


Case Files

by ScorpioDarkMoon



Series: Blood Alloy [5]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Dogs, F/M, Fluff, Girls with Guns, Gun Violence, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, M/M, Torture, Violent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:37:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17402747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorpioDarkMoon/pseuds/ScorpioDarkMoon
Summary: The life of a detective isn't an easy one but it rarely lacks for excitement.





	1. May 23rd 2289: Back to the Island

“well these are the coordinates she gave us….”

“Gray I hate to break it to you, but I think she’s sent us on a wild goose chase.” 

“I don’t know what a goose is.” Grumbling she mounted a nearby log, scanning across the foggy landscape of Far Harbor with a frown. 

“it’s a bird.” I replied, watching her from under the shade of my hat. It was about midday, nice weather for a walk across the deadliest island I’ve ever seen. Which wasn’t saying much considering I’d been on about two, well two and a half. Only if you sort of counted the oceanological society. It had been just over eight months since we were last here. That hadn’t been long enough to take the edge off the place.

“great ok, so what does it mean. A wild bird chase?” Gray grumbled down at me from her perch on the log. “why would anyone be chasing a wild bird? Why not just shoot it?”

A crooked smile broke my face as I stared up at her. 

She scowled visibly. “what?”

“you’re just so adorable when you don’t understand something from before the war.” 

“half the time I don’t understand you.” she retorted, going back to her survey of our surroundings. “she said she’d meet us here but I don’t see where here is. There’s a big plane wreck over there but that can’t be it.” 

“again, are you sure she got the coordinates right? are you sure you did?”

That got her scowling at me. Had to fight the grin tugging on my face or she’d start throwing things. “you downloaded the tape too, are these the wrong coordinates?”

“well then where is she?” 

“I don’t know!” exasperatedly she threw her arms up then leapt back down. there was real genuine concern and fear in her eyes. 

“gray it’s going to be fine, she’s just running late.” Gently I took her hand drawing her in close. With her tight against my chest I gave her the best crooked smile I could manage. She didn’t even see it, too busy frowning at my tie. “Sarah isn’t helpless either, she’s a lot more capable than that innocent synth you saved all those years ago.”

“I know, I know I just can’t help it alright?” deeply she rolled her eyes. “and it hasn’t been years, it’s been a year if that.” 

“not that either of us look any older.” I added with a smirk.

“ya know at some point people are going to start noticing that I don’t age.” She murmured, still staring at my tie.

With my right hand I took her chin in my fingers and made her look at me. “and when they do we’ll figure out what to do, but for now, just enjoy the time we have together.” 

At last her grimace gave way to a genuine smile. She met my lips before I even had the chance to dodge or protest. I tightened the grip on her hips and drew her in. her excited movements were hard to keep up with. She certainly kept things interesting.

A stick snapped somewhere to our right. we broke up, hands going for our guns. A Supermutant marched through the underbrush. It had a bear’s pelt and head draped over its massive cranium. What was probably a Deathclaw’s skull hung on its belt along with the obligatory junk Supermutants seemed to think was good protection. It hefted a giant gun and that was about all Gray needed to see.

“Nick scatter!” she threw up her gun and started firing.

The Supermutant retreated back behind cover while I went for my own. Gray followed close behind, swearing under her breath. “we’re no where near the factory or the hotel, why in the hell is there a Supermutant out here?!” growling, I checked my weapon.

“I don’t know, but if it has anything to do with why Sarah’s not here, I’m going to tear it apart.” She snapped. Quick to anger, as usual. Not that I could blame her.

Sarah was one of her weaknesses, one of few she’d try to say which of course wasn’t true. Either way she was her friend, one of my friends too. and if a Supermutant had found her I didn’t dare think what it would do to her. Getting up on a knee I fired at the hidden mutant. It retreated further behind cover grunting. “get around on its side, we’ll pinch it out.”

“good plan, don’t get dead.” with her head low she dashed out from behind cover, darting to the next bit she could find. In no time I lost track of her.

The mutant hadn’t fired yet, which was weird. They usually didn’t hesitate. Sometimes you got those damn suiciders that charged you. this one just hid behind cover. Maybe it was cause he was alone. I darted up to fire. A split second later he swung out, throwing up a hunting rifle. My first thought was confusion, I’d never seen a mutant use such a precision weapon before. the next was pain as a bullet tore through my stomach. 

Grunting I dropped back to the mud. Damn. 

“I’m not here to fight humans! Go back to the harbor!”

“where’s my friend?!” Gray yelled from somewhere off the to left. 

I stood up on a knee just in time to see her crash into the mutant. Had to hand it to her, she wasn’t scared of much these days. I didn’t know for sure why that had become the case. I wondered if it had anything to do with what Rush did to her. She had her arms wrapped around the brute’s neck from behind, riding him like a wild Brahmin. 

“get off!” the mutant grunted, trying to shake her off with all his might. 

“answer me you green skinned freak! Where’s Sarah?!” she bellowed. She didn’t even have her gun out. What the hell was she thinking?!

The mutant finally found a grip, tossing her hard to the ground. She huffed as she slammed into the dirt. The mutant swung up his gun at her face. nothing she could do. I jumped from behind cover, charging straight at them. “don’t you dare pull that trigger!!” 

“humans are always so violent, as bad as Supermutants.” The mutant grunted glaring down at her.

“Erick! Put that away!” a voice screamed from somewhere behind them.

I slammed my fist into the mutant’s face. normally when I punched something with the right hand it was enough to send them crawling home with their tails between their legs. If the force behind it wasn’t enough, then I usually ended up taking some skin with me. the mutant staggered, blood dripped down its face. I expected it to punch back, or at least pull that trigger. He didn’t though. his head snapped around, totally ignoring me. 

“are these your friends?” it grunted in what I could only assume was irritation. Hard to tell since I’d never met an intelligent mutant to begin with. 

“yes!” from over a log in the distance stumbled a familiar figure. She tumbled down into the mud before quickly recovering herself. Sarah stalked toward us, her hands set firmly on her hips. Her thick black hair was messed up, and there was mud on her thick canvas jacket. Other than that she looked pretty much the same as we’d last seen her. All except that absolutely livid look on her face. “put that gun away Erick! These are the people I told you about!”

“Sarah?! What the hell is going on?!” Gray called, still lying flat on the ground. 

The mutant backed up, slinging his weapon over his shoulder. “they fired first….”

“what’d you expect us to do?” my gun was still tight in my hand and I didn’t want to lower it quite yet. 

Sarah planted herself next to the mutant, glaring at him like a mother would their kid. “I told you to wait for me at the plane! your dogs were freaking out without you!”

He just turned his back on her, arms crossed, grunting, “they’re fine.” 

“they’re already in bad shape cause of Gracie, leaving them alone just makes it worse! Jax was whining so bad when I got there!” 

“he’s fine, he just worries too much.”

“Gracie and him are best friends, what do you expect-”

“Sarah, what the fuck is going on?” Gray finally interrupted. With a hand I helped her to her feet. she was covered in mud, not that she cared or noticed. 

Sarah’s mouth fell open to say something, which judging by that look was going to be a little sharp. Then she realized who she was looking at and the steel in her expression slid away. “Vel! I’m so sorry! He didn’t hurt you did he? I swear Erickson doesn’t know his own strength! I keep telling him!” 

“slow down doll, what’s goin on? What’s with the mutant?” since there didn’t seem to be any danger I put my gun away. No point provoking a mutant that wasn’t trying to kill us already. 

Gray eyed the mutant’s back skeptically. “they’ve usually got rocks for brains, what are you doing running around with one of these things?”

“rocks for brains….” It grumbled. Sorry, Erickson grumbled. 

“we probably shouldn’t talk here. I was planning to take you to him at his plane so this didn’t happen.” She shot him a dark look over her shoulder. “of course he never listens to me.”

Grunting, like any other mutant, Erickson started tromping off in a different direction. 

Gray watched him walk for a second before grabbing Sarah by the arm. “he’s a damn Supermutant! What in the hell is wrong with you?!”

“he’s not the same as the other ones. He’s got a mind. I don’t know how or why but he does.” She actually looked like she believed it. I knew Sarah could be a little naive but this? This was a new level. 

“are you hearing yourself?” Gray gaped.

“are you sure about this?” I added with a little more restrained astonishment. 

Sarah’s eyes darted between the both of us. “I’ve been friends with him for a long time now, Longfellow is friends with him too. he’s not a danger to any of us.”

“that old fart.” Gray grumbled. 

That satisfied me. “Well, if old Longfellow doesn’t consider him a threat then I guess we don’t have to either.”

“you can’t be serious.”

Sarah grabbed Gray by her shoulders. “please just trust me ok? He needs your help and he’s too proud to admit it.”

“wait, you got us here, on a case, for a Supermutant….” That tone didn’t bode well. It sounded like gray was about ready to walk out of this. slowly she dropped her head forward, her bangs hiding her eyes. “why are you so trusting?”

“so does that mean you’ll help?”

Smirking I watched Gray out of the corner of my eye. The debate couldn’t have been more intense in her eyes. Caught between helping her friend’s friend, or helping her friend to the nearest padded cell. If that existed in the commonwealth anymore. So to Gray, there really was only one choice. “fine… we’re here to help…. What’s the problem?”

“I’ll let him explain, come on, he’ll be brooding already.” She ran off after the mutant, like that wasn’t the worst damn thing I’d ever seen someone do.

Gray and I glanced at each other. She was still debating. And I couldn’t blame her. “come on, lets at least see what he wants.”

“it’s an it. not a he.” 

“don’t be rude.” Smiling at her disgruntled look, I followed Sarah. 

We caught up to the girl who stayed a couple paces behind the mutant. Erickson certainly seemed to have most of his mind, unlike the rest of them. I’d heard rumors about a mutant that wondered the city that didn’t attack on sight but those were just hearsay. I’d never thought a Supermutant would be capable of normal thought. It remained to be seen just how sane this guy was. 

He led us to an abandoned plane wreck not too far from Acadia. The torn up hull spread for almost half a mile in either direction. He’d set up a camp throughout the wreckage, different levels with furniture, wood walls and some storage. A pretty nice set up, especially for a mutant. Hard to imagine how he had enough dexterity to build the thing. As we entered through a set of stairs on the top barking greeted us. 

“calm down! quit your whining!” Erikson bellowed loudly. 

I followed next. There were a couple cages here, most of them occupied. A wasteland mutt, and a wolf. One empty cage. The wolf was hobbling on a bandaged back leg toward the mutant. 

“you shouldn’t be moving idiot, go back to bed.”

The wolf whined miserably, nudging the mutant’s open palm. Then it noticed Sarah coming down the stairs behind us and started barking brightly. 

“hey Jax.” Sarah met him half way, flinging her arms around his big scruffy neck. 

Just behind her I watched Gray look on with a twitching eye. “she’s friends with everything dangerous….”

“including you.” I replied over my shoulder. 

She scowled. 

Sarah guided the injured wolf back to his cage while Erickson calmed down the mutt. “Calm down Duke, they’re friends. Get back to sleep.”

I walked passed him to look in on the last empty cage. It hadn’t been empty for long. There was still a bowl of half eaten food in there and the water bowl hadn’t evaporated. “one of your dogs went missing, Gracie was it?” 

He just grunted as the mutt, Duke, lumbered into his cage.

Sarah shot him a look over her shoulder. “they’re here to help Erik.”

“we don’t need human help.” he growled. 

“they’re not human, they’re like me.” 

“Sarah….” I murmured warningly. Turning I found Gray giving her fellow synth a surprised look. 

Erickson gave a huff. “fine….” 

“Sarah, we’re going to have to have a conversation later.” Gray grumbled as she came to my side.

Sarah leaned in to whisper at us both. “Erik doesn’t actually get what I am. He just knows that I’m… off. Don’t worry.”

“comforting.” Even when I said it, I didn’t believe it. 

Erickson started talking and I had to tune in. “three days ago, some humans came to my camp while I was hunting. They shot one of my dogs and took another.” 

“your dogs fought back clearly.” Stiffly I pointed at the blood stains on the wood underfoot. “don’t suppose either one of the others could track them down?”

I’m pretty sure the mutant equivalent of a scowl flashed over his features. Hard to tell. After all it wasn’t until now that I realized they were physically capable of having feelings. Other than anger. “if Duke or Jax had a strong enough nose I’d already have Gracie back by now. And besides, those humans smelled more like the island than human. It would be almost impossible to track them.” 

“you two are good at tracking things down right? that’s what you do.” Sarah put in with a slightly desperate tone. “please, if you don’t find her those freaks will eat her!”

“so trappers?” Gray asked.

“I caught a glimpse of them when I came back.” Erickson shrugged, not a subtle gesture when you were over seven foot tall and had shoulders as broad as a football field. “but all you humans look alike.” 

“all you mutants look a like.” 

I shot Gray a warning look. 

Erickson didn’t seem to take offence though. “find Gracie and I’ll make it worth your while.” 

Sighing I rubbed the back of my neck. “this will be the first time the missing person’s a dog. Shouldn’t be too difficult to track the Trappers.” 

“you obviously haven’t tracked Trappers before.” Gray rolled her eyes visibly. “they know this island better than I do, they could be anywhere.”

“so it’ll be a challenge.” I gave a confident half smirk.

She wanted to scowl in response, I could tell, but it didn’t quite work that way. The smile just wouldn’t stop tugging on her lips. 

Sarah on the other hand wasn’t even a little amused. “are you two sure you can do this? We could go get help from Acadia. I’m sure there are plenty of synths that’ll help you guys after everything you did for us.”

Everything we did for them. Did they count killing DiMA among that? Had Faraday even come clean to them about that yet? If they hadn’t been suspicious before they should have been getting suspicious now. and what would he tell them when he finally did come clean? That DiMA had just gone up the coast to a nice farm where he could run around in fields? That was callous. I shouldn’t have thought that. Gray was rubbing off on me. 

“we’ll be fine.” Gray spoke while I was lost in those thoughts, looking a little insulted. “besides do you think any of those synths can hold their own better than we can?” 

“well no, but there’s strength in numbers right?”

“we’ll be fine.” With a wave of my hand I dismissed her concern. The island hadn’t chewed us up when we were last here, I doubted it ever would. “Erickson, are there any clues to where the Trappers might have taken your dog?”

He crossed his arms, glowering down at the blood stained metal. “well, I followed the tracks the day it happened. I was out hunting with Duke when they took Gracie. Left Jax for dead, shot in the leg. The tracks led me down to the road. From there I lost them.”

“the road just west of here?” Gray questioned.

“that’s the one.” 

“well it’s as good a place as any to start.” I’m not sure how many cases I’d done that were stranger than this. an intelligent Supermutant, with a lost dog, on an island surrounded by radioactive fog. Yeah that was a new one. “stay here with Sarah, we’ll find your dog and bring her back.”

“before you go, take some of this.” from a wrack he retrieved a few strips of dried meat. “smoked fish. Gracie’s favorite. If you don’t have this she might just bite your faces off.”

“wonderful.” As she took the strips gray looked even less pleased by this case. 

But it was her friend’s friend, so she didn’t have much of a choice. Sarah grabbed Gray’s hand, smiling brightly. “thank you so much Vel! This really means a lot to me.”

Sheepishly, Gray averted her eyes, grimacing at the floor. “yeah well… I owe you anyway….”

“you’d better get going, you’re running out of daylight hours.” Erickson advised which I agreed with.

“come on gray.” We left the plane wreck and headed down the side of the mountain. About part way down we picked up the trail that Erickson must have followed before. the first thing I noticed were just how big the paw prints were. “there’s gotta be something else in that fish than just fish. Gracie must be one hell of a dog.”

“hell of a dog is right.” Gray knelt beside the tracks and splayed her hand over the top of one of the prints. The track was almost as big as her hand. 

“why would a dog that size let herself get kidnapped by mad men?” with my eyes I followed the tracks into the distance. We were almost at the blacktop where the tracks would stop being useful.

“I’m not so sure it’s that simple….” With a groan Gray stood, dusting off her knees. “the dog tracks are over the top of the human tracks. And look at the human tracks. Spread wide, dug deep. They were running.”

My brows shot up in spite of myself. “and what does that mean exactly, oh great detective?”

“don’t test me jackass. You know what it means.” 

Chuckling I nodded in agreement. “then lets see what the trail has to offer. In the mean time think of any place Trappers might go on this side of the island to hide out.”

“hopefully we can narrow that down cause there’s a lot of places.” she grumbled. 

We set out again, this time rapidly coming to the blacktop which let the tracks disappear. This must have been as far as Erickson got on his own. Not that I blamed him. for a good hundred feet there was no indication of any Trappers or humans in general. At three days old I was surprised that the tracks we’d found were in such good shape. Hopefully that luck would hold out a little longer. As we walked we kept our eyes on the sides of the road. We didn’t need to find prints right away, just when they decided to leave the road. 

It wasn’t long before we came across our next clue and it was disquieting. A broken old house stood off the road. Cars and trucks blocked the way across the road forcing us to go around. The dirt was disturbed, like a fight had happened. Sure enough we found the body. “That’s disgusting….” I grumbled when my eyes fell on it.

The corpse of a trapper, maybe, lay on the road. He’d been eaten up, starting with the head and shoulders. His chest was a bloody mess of claw marks and bites. The ribcage cracked like a nut. Gray took a step back, a hand over her nose. “holly hell the smell….”

“decomp is slow in cold weather. If this were back in the commonwealth it’d be gone by now.” out of self preservation I switched off my sense of smell. Careful not to step in the pool of blood around the corpse, I leaned over it. “definitely a wild animal. Think it was Gracie?”

“it makes sense.” Gray stood on the other side of the corpse, grimacing at the bloody face. “she chased one down, killed him, had herself a snack, then kept chasing the others.” 

“how do you figure she kept chasing them?”

“either she’d still be here, or she’d have gone home. My guess is she chased them down to whatever hole they crawled out of and they locked her up.” 

“you don’t have any evidence of that. Don’t go making theories until you’ve got something to back it up.” 

She just sighed with a heavy roll of her eyes. as usual Gray hated it when I started lecturing her. At any rate there were two facts that were true. Gracie had probably killed this man, and she wasn’t here. Nor had she returned home. Our best option still remained in following the Trappers. “do you see any tracks from here?”

“no.” she shook her head.

“and there’s a fork in the road, damn….” Standing there I shot glares at each of the separate roads. Did this technically count as a dead end? I wouldn’t split up with Gray here, not on this damn island. 

“ya know, this leather armor is pretty top notch.” Gray’s voice brought me back around to look at her. “the craftsmanship sucks but the leather itself is actually pretty good.” 

To avoid the head, I knelt at a leg to examine what she meant. The stitches were clumsy, unevenly spread out, and the glue used to hold pieces together was coming undone. But the leather itself was good. Tough and flexible. “anyone who tans leather like this will know how to use it. no way these guys did it themselves. They had to have gotten the leather from somewhere else.” 

“or they could have stolen it….” 

“they made a full set of leather armor, and I’ll bet you ten caps the other guys were armored up too.” otherwise a set like this would have just got split up among the group. “they’d had have stolen a lot of leather to make all that. Which we would have heard about.”

“so they got the leather from somewhere else.” Gray concluded matter-of-factly. With folded arms she took a step back from the corpse, holding her hand over her nose again. “there’s a tannery that Violet cleared out when she was here. It isn’t far from here we could check that out.”

“it’s a better lead than we have right now.” besides I’d like to get out of here before that smell sunk into my clothes. 

We left the rotting corpse behind and Gray took the lead. One of her strengths, good with directions. She’d spent just over a month on the island and she knew it well enough she barely needed the map. All I had was an internal compass but I’d have still gotten lost on this island without her. Wandering the same streets for a hundred years made it hard to memorize a new map. 

She led us up the road, passed a couple of buildings crawling with ghouls, then finally to the tannery. Violet had mentioned something about this place before but I couldn’t quite recall the details. “if I were a Trapper I’d raid this place for its leather.”

“I’m not a trapper and I’d raid it for leather.” Gray added. 

“spread out. See if you can find any signs of Gracie or-” barking issued over the ridge down to us. Excited happy barking. Gray and I exchanged looks then followed the sound off the road into the woods next to the factory. Some Radstag dashed away as we came walking through the underbrush. At least they didn’t charge. The barking lead us across a rickety bridge to a shack out in the middle of nowhere. Here were more Trapper bodies. Two of them, splayed out and half eaten. 

“looks like Gracie’s been eating well….” As she knelt down to examine the corpses Gray frowned. “should it disturb me that this dog is eating humans?” 

“probably.” I admitted. 

The barking was coming from the top of the hill behind the shack. with our guns at the ready we climbed the slope. And I almost immediately started laughing. A Trapper, looking like he was about ready to faint, clung to the top most branches of a tree. He’d been there a long while judging by the stains on his pants. And there at the base of the tree was a massive green skinned mutant hound. It barked excitedly at the Trapper, clawing at the tree trunk which looked like it might just give out any minute. 

The trapper spotted us. “Help me! this mutt is gonna eat me! please! Kill it!”

Slowly I dropped my gun, gaping. “I wasn’t expecting this….”

“she chased him up a tree!” Gray burst out, letting her gun fall entirely. “she chased a trapper up a tree! What a good girl!”

Gracie, presumably, turned on us the moment she heard our laughing. Her big head tilted in confusion, those beady black eyes watchful. She started sniffing at the air. Then she howled excitedly and charged us. We didn’t even have time to throw up our guns before she went crashing into Gray. “Nick! Help me! she’s going to eat me!”

For a split second I did think about shooting the dog, but then I stopped and grinned. “doesn’t look like she wants to eat you gray.” 

Gracie was sniffing and nudging at Gray’s pocket, now whining. She was begging.

“ok! Ok Gracie! Off!” the big dog did exactly as Gray told her. Obediently leaping off my girlfriend and sitting back. her stubby little tail wagged so fast she actually dug a little trench behind her. 

Dusting herself off Gray stood. “I thought she was a guard dog, why’s she so friendly?”

“hell if I know. Better give her some of that fish or she might just attack you again.” Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the Trapper climbing down from the tree. Before he could start running I deftly put up my gun and shot him in the leg. 

He hit the ground crying. 

“you’re not going anywhere, Erickson is going to decide what to do with you.” 

Gray broke a piece of fish off and let Gracie lick it out of her hand. “what a good girl.” Smiling broadly she scratched the dog back behind the ears. “she’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Who’d have thought mutant hounds could even be tamed.”

“I didn’t.” with a hand I forced the injured Trapper to stand, hauling him up by an elbow. “we should get her back to Erickson before you get too attached.”

“I’m not that soft.” She scowled, simultaneously feeding Gracie another piece of fish. 

With the trapper fighting us every step of the way and Gracie repeatedly wondering off to sniff out something interesting. It took us the rest of the day to get back to the plane. by the time we reached it we found Erickson pacing around his camp and Sarah playing with Jax. Gracie barked happily when she spotted her master and quickly bounded up to him. 

“Gracie! Thank god! They didn’t hurt you did they?” the big mutant knelt down in front of her, rubbing her massive head. 

“I think she did more damage than they did.” I offered, thrusting the Trapper forward. “this is one of the guys that tried to take her. She polished off the others.” 

Gray snickered at that.

Erickson towered over the Trapper, who looked about ready to shit himself. “you shot my dog.” 

Words were lost on the idiot. Duke and Jax growled at Erickson’s elbow. They knew who was responsible for their friend going missing. I turned away. They’d kill him probably, and I wanted no part of that. Times like these I wish the wasteland had some hole in the ground we could toss criminals in. this guy didn’t deserve to die, at least not for this. I’d figured out a long time ago that I couldn’t pass judgment on people. That only the people that they wronged had that right. it usually ended in one way. 

But to my surprise Erickson grabbed the Trapper by the scruff of the neck and hauled him toward one of his cages. Angrily he tossed him inside and locked the door. “I’ll figure out what to do with you later.”

Sarah sighed beside me, clearly relieved. 

Gray sat down in a chair next to the wall and Gracie immediately bounded over to her. She nuzzled Gray’s limp left hand, whining. Gray flinched a little but put her hand on the dog anyway. Her left hand was still recovering from surgery. “ok, ok, shouldn’t you be more stand offish or something?”

“she’s really taken a liking to you.” Erickson commented, eyeing them over his shoulder.

“she likes me cause I have treats.” To illustrate her point Gray produced what was left of the fish, letting Gracie chomp happily on it. 

Erickson gave a grunt, still watching them for several seconds. eventually he looked to me. “I owe you for finding Gracie and bringing me that asshole.”

“it didn’t take us long, you don’t owe us anything.” Although it would have been nice to get some kind of compensation for travel time. By the time we got back to the commonwealth we’d be backed up. 

The mutant shook his head which made his bear hat sway dangerously. “no, I owe you and I always pay back my debts. How about you take one of my dogs with you?”

“what?!” Gray’s head snapped up, jaw falling open.

Sarah giggled. “you were planning that weren’t you Erik?”

He winked. A Supermutant winked. Now I’d seen everything. “maybe. Look Gracie ain’t cut out to be a guard dog, she’s too trusting. I won’t be able to sell her to anyone. She already likes your girl. Take her back with you.” 

I switched my gaze to gray. I could tell she was trying to hide her excitement. Gray was a kid at heart and owning a dog tickled that kid into a giggling fit. Gracie must have sensed what was going on because she barked and nudged Gray so hard she almost fell off her chair. 

“I don’t know….” Of course that meant I had to be the logical one. “Diamond City might not let us keep a mutant hound at the agency….”

“but look at her!” she forced Gracie around to stare at me, which wasn’t actually a very pretty sight. “she’s so cute, she could win over the entire city! Besides, you’re getting tired of making the trip to Sanctuary every time you need a dog to track someone! Gracie is probably ten times better than Dogmeat anyway!” 

“you drive a hard bargain Gray.” 

“I can offer you Duke too if you want, but he’s not the tracker that Gracie is.” Erickson added. “Jax is going to need to heal before I let anyone take him.”

“come on Nick.” Gray pleaded like a five year old, still scratching Gracie behind the ear. “the agency needs a dog.”

I held on to my frown as long as I could. This was just going to be more trouble than it was worth. Animals weren’t easy to take care of, let alone a Mutant Hound of all things. That wasn’t to say anything of the way Diamond City would react. After all they’d kicked out the ghouls, who’s to say they’d even let a dog like Gracie stay. I suppose I could keep her at Goodneighbor but with the relationship between Hancock and Gray that wouldn’t be ideal. It was just such a terrible idea. But how could I say no to Gray’s face? “alright, fine, we’ll take her. Ellie’s gonna hate this….” 

Like she knew what I was saying Gracie bounded across the room and leapt at me. she carried me to the ground with a crash then started licking my face up and down. “Gracie! No stop! Gracie! Get off of me! why isn’t she listening to me?!”

Gray and Sarah both laughed, leaning into one another. Erickson grinned too, thumbs in his belt. “I’m guessing she won’t listen to you as much as your girl.”

“great.” With an arm in her neck I tried to keep her at bay long enough to shoot Gray a look. “she’s your dog.” 

“Gracie off.” Gray intoned and to my irritation the dog listened to her right away. Gray helped me to my feet smiling. “don’t worry, she’s our dog.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a silly little story to stave off the sadness that i inflicted with you in Shattered. I hope you're all doing well in spite of my work! Happy friday everyone! 
> 
> write on!


	2. August 5th, 2289: Photon

“a whole case?” 

“yes!” Myrna threw her hands into the air exasperatedly. “are you deaf or something, that’s what I said!”

“yes, I heard you, I’m just making sure you mean a full case of Nuka-Cola.” Nick grumbled, jotting down a note on his pad.

Silently I sat by, watching the proceedings with little interest. The fact that Myrna had come to see us both surprised and irritated me to all hell. She hated Nick because he was a synth, and she’d hate me just as bad if not more if she knew I was one. we’d been lucky that she wanted nothing to do with us for so long. But when there were only two detectives in the commonwealth and something went missing, choices were limited. 

Myrna scowled so much I wanted to tell her that her face would get stuck like that. “a full case. I had it locked up, in my house, safe, when overnight it was stolen.” 

“and you’re sure that you locked the door, and that your Handy was manning the shop the whole time?”

“yes I’m sure! Do I look like an idiot?”

“yes.” I mumbled under my breath.

Nick coughed loudly, probably to mask his own laughter. Setting aside his pen he sat back to look Myrna up and down. “is there anything else you can tell us? Any suspicious persons? Anyone you think may have had a hand in stealing your Nuka-Cola?”

It really looked like Myrna was in a constant state of smelling something bad. Maybe that scowl really was permanent. “no! I don’t know anything else! I wouldn’t be here if I did know something believe me.”

“I believe you.” Nick tore the page out of his notebook and slipped it into a file on his desk. “we’ll look into it Myrna, you have my word. And if anything else goes missing be sure to tell us.”

“good.” With one last disgusted look at Nick, then me, she left through the front door. it slammed loudly behind her.

“not even a thank you.” I grumbled airily, breathing a long sigh of relief. My wrist ached so badly while she was here. I’m honestly surprised that I didn’t draw on her. “can’t waste thank yous on synths can she?”

“what’d ya expect?” Nick leaned casually in his chair, flipping through the almost dozen pages of notes he kept in the file. “that’s the eighth case of stolen property in three days. All really… weird things…. Who steals an entire case of Nuka-Cola?”

“I know a couple idiots that would.” With a groan I got up to look at his notes over his shoulder. “a Jangles the Moon monkey doll from Arturo, Nuka-Cola from Myrna, baseball bat from Moe, a leather biker jacket from Becky, radio from the pastor, paint of all things from Abbot. The only things that make any sense are the Yao Gui ribs from Polly and the stims from Sun.” 

“they might not be connected.”

“but you think all the rest of this junk is?” 

He leaned back to give me one of his mildly exasperated looks. “unless you think eight separate thieves decided that now was a good time to come out of the wood work, yes, I think they’re connected.”

“damn no need to get so grumpy about it.” I chuckled smiling at him. “so what’s the thought? One thief or a slew of thieves all hired by the same person?”

“either way we need to profile this cat, or dame.” He spread out the notes onto his desk, leaning over them. “what kind of person wants all these things?”

“a teenager.” 

“what?”

Rolling my eyes I came to stand at his side. “a teenager would want all this junk. Come on, you gotta see it. leather jacket? A bat? A radio? Every kid in the commonwealth grew up wanting them.” 

“did you?” one of his brows shot up at me while he grinned crookedly.

“yes, I did, and I got them, cause Hancock didn’t bother listening to Marowski when things went missing form the Rexford.” Chuckling I reached for the box of scrap metal Nick used for repairs from time to time. As I rifled through it I continued. “it’s probably a teenager anyway, and I really doubt that he hired someone if he’s stealing. Could always just put those caps toward buying the damn things.”

“it could be a thrill seeker from the upper stands.” Nick took the box from me then hid it away in his drawer. “although the youngest person I know in the upper stands is Hawthorn and he’s not likely to be stealing from anyone.” 

“if someone did hire anyone to steal then they’d had to have put out the word.” Casually I picked up a handful of notes, examining Nick’s strong scratchy handwriting. “we should talk to Zoon at the Dugout Inn, see if he’s heard anything or if there’s more missing.”

“it’s a good a place as any to start.” Groaning he got to his feet, swinging on his ratty old trench coat like it wasn’t ninety-degree weather out there. 

And it was indeed ninety degrees outside. It was in fact so hot in the sun that I’d opted to leave nearly all my gear behind at the agency instead of bake in it. not that Nick cared. He wore his detective outfit year round without so much as a complaint. There were some days I wish I was a robot too. “when we get there he’s going to ask me to taste test his latest batch.” Grumbling, I lead the way out the door onto the dirty path. 

Nick, with his hands deep in his pockets followed when the door locked behind us. “are you going to do it?”

“there’s a fifty-fifty chance that anything he brews will be any good.” 

“you going to take those odds?”

“I’m debating.”

Normally I didn’t use the word sweltering to describe anything but I wasn’t sure there was any better word for that afternoon. The market was almost empty thanks to the heat. Those that had to man shops did so either shirtless or wearing tank tops the same as me. Arturo was actually surprisingly ripped under his ratty shirt. Nick strolled happily, looking totally out of place among the rest of us sweating animals. “I hate you sometimes.” 

“why, what did I do?” he replied innocently, fully aware of what I was talking about.

“hurry up before I get baked.” 

Chuckling he did pick up the pace. I practically jogged to the Dugout Inn, desperate to get in out from the sun. at this rate I might have to wear a hat for once. The activity that usually filled the market had occupied the Inn. Zoon stood behind the bar, making easy conversation with a couple of caravan guards getting in from the heat. As we walked in he snapped his eyes to us. “Valentine! O'Malley! Perfect timing!”

“no.” I said flatly.

“I haven’t even told you what-”

“I’m not taking the chance with my stomach lining today.” 

Zoon deflated visibly but waved his hand. “fine, fine, what do you want then?”

Nick parked himself on a stool at the counter so I leaned up beside him. “heard anything about anyone putting out feelers for a thief lately?”

Zoon picked up a glass from the counter. Using a rag that was dirtier than his face, he cleaned it contemplatively. “can’t say I have, I’ve heard plenty of things getting stolen but nothing about who’s doing the stealing.”

“so someone’s stealing for themselves.” Nick concluded with finality. 

“and if they’re stealing for themselves then we’re looking at a cocky teenager who cares more about fashion than how fucking hot it is.” I finished with a growl.

“you think all the thefts are the same person?” Zoon’s brows shot up.

To which Nick rolled his eyes and sighed irritably. “yes, I think it’s the same person.”

“so what now?” with folded arms I leaned over the bar, staring at the knotted wood. “we know that no one’s been hired for these jobs so the thief is who we’re after. They’re probably a kid judging by their choice of items, what else do we know?”

“that almost everyone in Diamond city has been hit except the Dugout Inn.” Slowly Nick brought his gaze around to meet Zoon’s.

An excited smirk lifted Zoon’s face. According to Piper, that was the look of a man about to jump head first into danger with nothing but a BB gun. If half the stories about this guy were to be believed, he’d done just that before. “why don’t you use my joint as bate?”

Nick’s brows shot up. “ya didn’t even let me ask….”

“what? You were going to weren’t you?”

“well yeah but-”

Zoon waved his dirty rag to silence Nick. “this whole bar keep thing is a little boring sometimes, lets spice it up. Besides Gracie can’t track someone she’s never smelled before can she?”

Nick huffed.

“a case of his best beer, conveniently placed out, a few rumors spread, the thief wouldn’t be able to resist.” I nodded approvingly. “we could catch him in the act then arrest him.”

“arresting him won’t be enough for the people he stole from.” Twisting in his seat Nick gave me that tilted head look. “we need to recover the things he stole.”

“so how do we track him?” 

“well you two can figure that out.” Zoon put away his glass and made to walk away. “I have rumors to spread. About the impenetrable lock on my front door.”

“thanks Zoon.” Nick called.

Turning my back on the bar I leaned back, frowning at the ceiling. “I suppose we could always follow the thief but he could easily give us the slip in the ruins.”

“my thoughts exactly.” Chin in hand Nick stared at the opposite wall. “what we need is a way to track him that we don’t have to keep him in sight…. Hm…. Did Violet ever tell you about the time she and Macready took down a courser?”

“she might have mentioned it. that was the time she got hit by a laser right?” 

“that’d be the one.” nodding he sat up to look me in the eye. “she tracked the courser down by using the signal its chip sent out. She tracked it using the radio on her Pipboy.” 

“I’m sorry, but a high tech courser getting tracked down because it left its radio on is pretty funny to me.” I chuckled but stopped with a roll of my eyes when I saw the exasperation in his face. “you want to plant a tiny radio transponder on the beer, so that when the thief steals it we can track him using my Pipboy.”

“unless you have a better idea.” Grumbling he went back to staring sulkily at the wall. 

Smiling I leaned into his shoulder. “do you know how to make a radio beacon?” 

“I just need a few parts from Travis and I should be good.” 

“you could always go ask Ellison for a hand.” 

“if it’s all the same to you, I’ll try it myself first.”

“what’s wrong, don’t want to go see the doc?” 

“neither one of us likes you calling her that.” With a huff he shoved off the counter to go striding out the door.

Smiling I followed him. “she’s basically your own personal doctor though.”

“if doctors make regular improvements on your body sure.” He heaved a massive shrug, which he did on purpose. 

“technically they can improve your face.” 

“you’re a riot.”

“I try.” 

Travis had what Nick was looking for. After about three hours of grumbling, groaning and swearing under his breath every time the soldering iron scorched his desk, Nick had what we needed. It wasn’t much bigger than my thumb, looked sturdy, and let out a strong signal. We tested it as far as the diamond would let us and at that length I was still getting a good signal. We returned to Zoon with it in hand. with it wrapped in plastic we shoved it into a beer bottle then capped it. wouldn’t know the difference from the outside. 

Satisfied we returned to the agency to wait. 

Turns out we didn’t have to wait long. Nick volunteered to stay up and monitor the Pipboy overnight. I didn’t argue with him seeing as he usually ended up staying awake for a while anyway. I woke to him gently shaking me, a satisfied smirk on his face. “get geared up, our beer is on the move.”

“I’m not so sure that I’m not dreaming still….” I mumbled groggily as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. 

He smiled. “come on, this is the part you like.” 

Normally, if it weren’t happening at two in the morning. Nick helped me get dressed then ushered me outside like the world was ending. An insistent beeping issued out of my Pipboy which was steadily growing fainter as we left the agency. “come on, or it’ll take us days to find him again.”

“ok, o-k.” a yawn interrupted my words which brought tears to my eyes. 

Not that Nick cared. He dragged me through the city, following the irritating beeping with an excited grin. Sure I enjoyed this bit, but Nick was like a dog with a scent sometimes. In fact I was pretty sure I’d seen Gracie with nearly that same lopsided grin. Didn’t help that it was dark as hell and there were more Molerats out than usual. I knew thieves stood a better chance in the middle of the night but it took a special kind of stupid to go out at this time. 

We followed the signal east, in the direction of Goodneighbor. It would be interesting if that’s where it lead. I hadn’t been back there for months, thanks to Nick making sure of it. I still hadn’t cleared the air about that yet, part of me didn’t want to. Slowly but surely we inched our way closer. According to Nick the beacon had stopped moving. We were close. Standing on the edge of the commons though we exchanged looks. “here? Our thief is here of all places?”

“it looks that way.” He grumbled, glowering into the dark at the park. 

Swan would be there, probably lounging around in his pool. Blissfully unaware of the two wastelanders standing at his doorstep. One wrong move, if we woke him up, we’d be all kinds of screwed. “any ideas? He’s not exactly hiding in the pond with Swan after all.”

Hand to his chin Nick scanned across the commons. “there aren’t many good places to hide around the commons…. Triggermen used to control the station but if we haven’t lost the signal it’s probably not down there.” 

“then?”

“maybe one of the houses, he could have broken in. can’t imagine a thief is particularly choosy about where he takes up residence.”

“we’re talking about a teenager here.”

“you think.”

I rolled my eyes. Nick really could irritate me sometimes. “you don’t think it’s a teenager?”

“it’s one theory of a dozen possible ones.”

“I bet a hundred caps that he’s hold up in the old Boylston club.” 

Nick opened his mouth, looking ready to take that bet. Then he snapped it shut and stalked off toward the door. “I’m not taking that bet.”

“cause you’ll lose?”

“yes.” 

Chuckling I followed him to one of the few functioning doors that opened up onto the commons. The beeping got worse so I just turned it off. Wouldn’t tell us anything new. Especially when Nick picked up one of Zoon’s beer bottles that lay beside the door and showed it to me. definitely the right place. 

Quietly, we crept inside. My pistol found its way to my hand. of course it did. Nick hadn’t drawn. He didn’t even look all that worried. I suppose we were up against a thief, not all thieves were harmless though. at the end of the hall was an elevator. We called it and waited. That had to alert our suspect. If there was a way out from upstairs he’d take it. Then we’d be back to square one.

It carried us to the top floor, out into a dusty gloomy lounge. Diamond city radio played through the gloomy looking room. rocket 69, actually. Which in hindsight was just fitting for who we found there. scattered around the room were various nick-knacks and- I laughed out loud.

Nick glanced at me. “what?”

“Nick-knacks…. Everything you own is a nick-knack.” I chuckled openly, grinning at his disgruntled face. 

“are you serious right now?” he swung around to face me. with his gun he gestured at the old club. “we’re chasing down a thief and you’re over here making up puns with my name.”

“just in the nick of time right?” I burst out laughing, completely unwilling, and unable to control myself. 

Groaning Nick tried to get back to work, sweeping the room. 

“have I nicked your pride a little?” 

“gray stop.” 

“ok, ok.” Casually I strode into the room. there was a lot of junk here. Empty Nuka-Cola bottles lay everywhere. Random toys and an entire stack of comics sat on the table in a corner. There were bones stacked up in a box in the far corner too. someone had taken the time to clean the place up before they moved in. a little odd for a wastelander. “he sure nicked a lot.”

“I’m going to start ignoring you.”

“I’m just Nicking with you.”

Laughter suddenly burst from somewhere behind the bar. Nick groaned as he strode around the other side, gun up. “alright come out. I’m this close to shooting something.”

“ok! Ok! I’m coming out!” someone managed around laughter. A gangly boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen, stepped out. His head of messy blond hair fell into his eyes and those blue orbs sparkled with the laughter he couldn’t control. 

“see, someone appreciates my puns.” I smirked, pointing at the kid.

“he’s a thief, are you sure you hold his opinion in high regard?” Nick grumbled over his shoulder at me. 

“hey, just cause I’m a thief doesn’t mean my opinions don’t matter.” The kid answered around bouts of laughter that left him a little red in the face. 

Nick grabbed him by the shoulder to drag him out into the lounge. Picking around all the junk that he’d probably stolen in recent days. He sat him down in the only clear spot to sit in the entire place. “alright kid, start talking. What’s with the crime spree?”

“the name’s Photon copper head.” He spat, all amusement gone like a switch had been flipped.

Casually I shoved aside a stack of comics to sit on the table which the kid, Photon, groaned at. “that’s not much of a name there, what gives?”

“I’m fast, and light, just like a photon.” He grinned as if that were the cleverest thing in the world. 

That actually made me groan.

Nick looked at me over his shoulder. “that irritates you but the puns don’t?”

“my puns are masterfully crafted.” I answered with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes. “Nicking with me again?”

“course.”

“so…. Not to interrupt here but are you two going to do something or are you going to bore me with your old people talk?”

“old people.” My jaw fell open with indignation. This was the first time anyone had called me old. I wasn’t even that old in the first place! Well maybe in terms of the wasteland I was middle aged but that was still only twenty six! Then again… technically I was two….

Nick on the other hand chuckled, returning to the thief. “alright, Photon, why’re you on a crime spree? You’ve stolen a lot of junk over the last few days, nothing particularly valuable. Why?”

Confidently, Photon sat back. crossing his legs he put his hands behind his head. “how do you know I haven’t stolen anything valuable?”

With a huff, Nick waved his hand around the room. “does anything in here even look remotely valuable?” 

His face fell a little, like his little bubble had been burst. “it’s all valuable to someone…. Or you wouldn’t be here.”

“is this some kind of training? Are you getting yourself ready to go after something big?” not that I could think of anything particularly worth stealing from the commonwealth. The most valuable things were usually locked up behind strong doors and hordes of beasts. A thief wouldn’t be exactly useful in that scenario. 

Photon’s eyes dropped, for the first time his cocky little shit eating grin disappeared. The first real sign of emotion we’d seen out of him. “I’m just stealing cause I can.”

Nick leaned further forward on his knees, probably sensing that there was a greater story here than just a dumb kid having a good time. “that’s a little hard to believe. Stealing in the commonwealth is as liable to get you killed as anything. You’re not a dumb kid, you wouldn’t have lasted this long if you were. So why are you putting yourself on the line for some Nuka-Cola?”

“what does it matter?” he unfolded his legs to sit back deeper in the couch. Anger, and maybe a little fear. What was that about? “you’re here to arrest me, or kill me or whatever you detective types do right? why do you care?”

“because I like to know how a smart kid like you ended up a thief.” 

Of course he did. Nick always did. So long as the person we were chasing wasn’t dangerous he always liked to know the story. Honestly I figured he’d be disappointed with this one. the kid had that look. The one that I used to have back before I joined Cormac’s gang. Cocky, self assured, arrogant. The commonwealth had burned that out of me. not yet this kid. 

With folded arms he turned his head to glower at the window that let the sun stream in. “I’m good at it. gotta do what you’re good at.”

“getting the feeling there’s more to it.”

The elevator dinged. I jumped to my feet, hand going to my gun. “were we expecting backup?”

Nick rose, frowning at the elevator doors. “no…. get Photon in the back and keep him there.”

“I don’t need your protection!” Photon surged to his feet totally outraged.

Irritably I grabbed him tightly by the arm. “and if you’ve managed to piss off more than Diamond city I’m sure you can handle whatever’s coming your way.” 

He swiped his arm free, glowering at me. “I can handle it myself old woman!”

“stop calling me old….” 

“get him in the back.” Nick ordered a little venomously.

While Photon continued to protest I dragged his worthless ass around the bar. There was a closet at the back, with more junk stacked in it. how long had this kid been at it? damn. “stay here.” Fiercely I pushed him into the closet. “don’t move, don’t make a sound, or I will personally shoot you.”

“I don’t need your help!”

“yeah, I used to say the same thing.” The door slammed in his face before his insults could start up again. Standing behind the bar I looked to Nick. “what’s the plan?”

“we’re at a dead end.” He shrugged, checking the cylinder on his weapon. The elevator slowly inched its way up to our floor from below. “there can’t be more than four or five people in that elevator, there might be more downstairs.”

“should we shoot before it opens?”

“no, for all we know they’re Diamond City security.”

I scoffed. “are you glitching on me?”

“it’s a possibility. Slim but it’s a possibility.” The elevator dinged, Nick let the gun fall to his side and waited. Unsure what to do with myself I went looking for a full bottle of wine lying around. 

From the elevator stepped three men. They weren’t diamond City security. Not by a long shot. they wore leather armor, studded with little spikes, carrying pipe-pistols each. They all had that insane cruel look in their eye that every raider seemed to have. their faces turned to surprise though when they found Nick standing there. 

“afternoon fellas.” Nick spread his hands welcomingly. He could be an idiot sometimes. “what brings you here?”

Two of them glanced to their lead, too dimwitted to figure out what was going on. The center guy, with a bald head, at least didn’t react so stupidly. He eyed Nick, then me, then looked back at Nick. “you’re the detectives working out of the diamond right?”

“our reputation proceeds us.” Leaning over the bar I smirked at the three raiders. “what’s our reputation say?”

“that you’re a couple of meddlers that deserve a bullet.” 

“ah….” Yeah should have figured.

Nick took a casual stance, one hand in the pocket, while his other kept hefting his gun. “so are you here for us? Or some other reason?”

With a gesture, the other two idiots split off from their boss. Heading to stand beside the wall out of my line of sight. “we ain’t got any trouble with you, not yet anyway. we’re here for Photon. Give him up and we’ll go.”

“Photon?” Nick tilted his head innocently. The worst impression of innocent I’d ever seen him give. “never heard of him. we’re here chasing a thief. We don’t know anything about Photon.” 

“you’re a pretty good liar. But we followed him here. Give him up or I’m going to start shooting.”

“I wouldn’t suggest it.” pointedly I placed my gun on the counter in plane sight. At least he tensed at that. In fact his eyes flickered to the scars on my face and fear drifted over him. he wasn’t the first raider I’d seen to react like this. 

“why should you care what we do with the kid? he’s got this coming.” He growled at me.

“what did he steal from you?” Nick questioned dryly.

“nothing. He owes us, and we’re here to collect. Now hand him over.” 

“not going to happen.”

“I like you detective, I’ve heard good things about you. don’t make this personal.”

“you’ve already threatened me. you’re making it personal.”

“fine.” The guy raised his gun.

Then Photon came crashing through the door hands up. “stop! Stop! Brant look I’m right here! Don’t shoot anyone!”

Brant, which was probably the dumbest name I’d ever heard, smirked at Photon. “there ya are kid. we’ve been looking for you. should have figured you would hold up here.”

In a vice grip I grabbed Photon’s arm, hauling him behind me. “can we talk about this?”

“O'Malley the bloody wants to talk?” Brant grunted out a laugh that made my wrist ache to shoot him. “what happened to you?”

Nick finally raised his gun. The other two brought up their weapons. “I’d suggest you walk away friend, while you still can on your own.”

Brant turned his tiny eyes on him, smirking. “you’re outnumbered. Didn’t Photon tell you? he’s a lover not a fighter.”

“look! Don’t shoot anybody! Put the gun down!” Photon cried.

“shut up.” I shook him while the gun leapt into my hand. the ache in my wrist was getting worse.

Nick stood his ground firmly. Glowering at the raiders with more hatred than I expected to see. “so Photon was part of your little gang and you want him back, is that it?”

“about right. we’ve been chasing him across the wasteland, now step aside.”

“walk away.” 

“shoot the detectives, we need Photon alive.” Brant ordered.

The other two immediately opened fire. I tackled Photon to the ground, bits of glass, spilled wine and hunks of wood flying everywhere. The bar at least could take the punishment. “stay down!” I shouted into Photon’s face before getting up on a knee to fire back. 

Nick in the lounge had toppled a table for cover, which was proving only marginally helpful. One of the idiots peppered his cover with bullets, the other focused on me. Brant hadn’t even raised his gun yet. “Nick! Plan?!”

“stay down!” he answered as if that would do any of us any good. 

The raider stood up taller, firing at an angle that forced me to retake cover behind the bar. Photon got up next to me. “I didn’t ask you to help me!”

“yeah, yeah I know.” For good measure I reached for my second magazine. This was more serious than I expected it to be. I hadn’t even brought a grenade for gods sake. “get over it.” 

He opened his mouth to answer but a giant hand reached down and hauled him up over the bar. Flailing he kicked. One of his feet hit me square in the face, I went over, swearing. 

“time to go Photon.” Brant’s voice growled somewhere overhead. 

Groaning I got up, turning my gun on him. the bullets had stopped. One raider was dead, the other had his gun pointed at me as I stood up. Brant had Photon by the neck, gun against his head, hauling him backwards toward the elevator doors. Photon could hardly breathe under the hand. “it’s been fun, but we’ve got to go.”

“let the kid go.” Nick was on his feet, his gun pointed dead center at Brant. 

Brant just grinned at him knowingly. “go ahead, try to shoot me. I might pull the trigger by accident or you could hit the snake. You decide.” 

Nick’s jaw tightened, while his gun remained steady on the retreating raiders.

Slowly I picked my way around the bar, following the pair with my own gun. Photon was terrified, and a little blue in the face. my wrist ached. I could just shoot them both. Sure to kill Brant I’d probably kill Photon too but this scumbag pissed me off. 

Do it.

They stepped backwards into the elevator. The doors closed on Brant’s smirking face.

Nick dropped his gun. “damn it….” 

“what do you want to do?”

He rounded fierce yellow eyes on me. “they’re going to kill him. make him do whatever they’re planning then kill him.”

“he’s not our problem we’ve got what he stole.” I waved a hand at the room.

His mouth fell open. “are you honestly suggesting we leave him to the wolves?”

“just checking.” I started fiddling with my Pipboy.

“what are you doing? Is now the time to listen to the radio?”

The rage in Nick’s voice bit a little which I tried to ignore. “I slipped a tracker in his pocket while we were fighting. We can follow those scumbags to whatever hole they crawl into.”

Nick’s arms fell loosely to his sides, the look softening. “you… you were always going after him weren’t you?”

“that was going to be the plan wasn’t it?” with the radio tuned to the right frequency it started beeping gently. It was slowly dying as Photon was carried away. Satisfied I dropped it to my side and looked Nick in the eye. “besides, I know what it’s like to want out of a gang.”

The shadow of something passed over Nick’s face. the same way it always did when the old gang came up. I’d never had the guts or strength to ask him what that was about. Maybe one day. We didn’t have the time to have that conversation. “come on, if we let them get too far we’ll never find them.”

We tracked the signal part way across the city. They didn’t go far, cocky idiots. If it were me I’d have run to the edge of the glowing sea. Of course most idiots tended to underestimate how far we’d go. The signal disappeared but we spotted them walking into the old mass pike tunnel. Weird. I’d thought for sure the Railroad was still in control of it. guess it had been a couple years since I cleared it out. 

“been a while since we last stormed this place.” I commented as we marched up the road toward the tunnel.

“yeah it has.” Nick nodded while he refilled his gun. “I still can’t believe you conned me into helping you join the Railroad.”

“it worked out in the end right?”

“I guess….” We’d had that conversation a couple times. Nick knew how important joining the railroad had been. It remained a sore spot for both of us in spite of that. 

“so what’s the plan?”

“think you can get to Photon?”

“you should do that, you’re less susceptible to bullets.” 

“alright, good point.” We came to stand side by side in front of the door, looking at the bullet holes that we may have left before. “be careful, don’t take unnecessary risks. I don’t want you getting killed for a blond rat.”

“you either.” Gripping my gun in both hands I smiled up at him. “shall we?”

Silently we slipped inside, shutting the door without a sound. From up the tunnel we could already hear Brant, mostly because he was yelling. “did you really think we’d let you get away like that?!” 

“I’m sorry, look I’m back that-AH!” Photon screamed.

“feel that?” Brant laughed. “that’s your rib cracking. Two inches deeper and I’ll puncture your lung.” 

“st-stop….”

“you never could handle pain, you pussy.” 

Nick and I picked up the pace. When we turned the corner we found Photon sitting on a chair in the middle of the room surrounded by five guys including Brant. Brant had his finger pressed up against his chest. Photon struggled to breathe, sweating and panting under the pain. Nick glanced back at me. I nodded.

He darted forward, not even bothering to open fire as he went for Brant. I stood up and got off two shots before they wised up. One guy went down with a bullet in the head another took it to the chest.

Brant let Photon go, spinning around just in time to glimpse the metal fist slamming into his face. blood spurted. I winced, the scars on my face tingling unpleasantly. One of the other raiders swung up his weapon while the other one was smart enough to go for cover. We fired at each other at the same time. My bullet hit his knee. His bullet grazed my shoulder. the pain shot up my arm and spine. I staggered a step back while he collapsed screaming. 

It gave me a second to look to Nick. He had Photon by the shoulders, hauling him out of the line of fire into cover. Brant collected himself, blood dripping from his jaw. “fuck it! kill the kid! we don’t need him!” 

“shut up!” I shot him, dead center in his back. he stumbled a step forward, shock all over his face as he went down. 

bit of a quick death. Too bad. 

The last raider standing tried to leap out from cover. But then he noticed the rest of his gang. The blood instantly drained from his face. his knees started shaking. He even dropped his gun. What an idiot.

Shoot him.

My gun came up before I even realized I’d told it to. 

“please don’t shoot!” he cried, collapsing to his knees. “we were just doing what Brant told us! I swear! I didn’t want to do this!”

Slowly I walked into the middle of the room. my gun hand ached so fucking bad. I’d killed three times already today. That should have satisfied it. but it was somehow even sharper than ever. Would killing this guy make it go away? 

“gray.” Nick’s voice pierced through the ringing in my ears and the headache behind my right eye. 

I glanced at him. he stood quietly by, Photon standing behind him. those yellow eyes were hard, a warning. 

With a heavy sigh I dropped my gun. “get your buddy and leave.”

“thank you!” the raider sobbed, blubbering like a child. “thank you! thank you! th-”

“get out before I change my mind.”

He squealed, something I’d never heard come out of a raider before. Quickly he gathered up his last living comrade and tore out toward the entrance. With him gone I put my gun away. I felt Nick’s eyes on me so I ignored him and focused on Photon. “you alright?”

“you came for me!” his voice went up an octave that made the headache just a little worse. “I can’t… I can’t believe you actually came for me.”

“would you prefer we left you to these psychos?” Nick questioned as he untied him. 

“no it’s just… no one’s ever cared….” He mumbled rather miserably.

With a sigh and a roll of my eyes I slapped him upside the head. “cause you’ve been hanging out with dumbasses like that.” I jabbed a thumb at Brant’s cooling corpse.

Photon glanced at it, went a little paler, then refocused on me. “I’m goin straight. No more stealing I promise.”

“hilarious.” I grabbed him by the collar.

“hey!”

Form his pocket I removed a pack of cigarettes. With raised brows at Photon I handed them back to Nick. 

Photon shrugged. “now I’ll go straight.” 

“you’re a trouble maker.” Nick grumbled, checking to make sure his pack was still as full as he remembered. “you should get your ass out of the commonwealth before you piss anybody else off.”

“no.” I shook my head, still holding Photon by the collar. “you’re not going anywhere are you?” 

Another shrug. “don’t know what I’m gonna do. Can’t exactly go home.” 

At last I let his shirt fall. With my hands stuffed in my pockets I stepped back, glowering at him. “I know where you are right now Photon. I’ve been there. You looking to go straight come find me. otherwise I won’t be here to pull your ass out of the fire again.” 

“I don’t need a hand out.”

“that’s exactly what I said.” Me and Nick exchanged looks. He smiled at me. “and look where I ended up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing my little shit Photon. He's been kicking around in my head for a while and i needed to get him out. he also proves important in the next major installment. 
> 
> as usual, thanks for taking the time to read my silly works! and write on!


	3. March 22nd, 2290: Our Day

“so now I have no idea what to get him.”

I rolled my eyes at the red head sitting beside me. Her green eyes bored into the depths of her noodles, the ones she’d been nursing for the last hour. I was already on my second helping. “Violet, seriously, his birthday is over a month away, you’ve got time.”

She put her palms flat on the counter and looked at me. An exasperated expression came to her, that I’d dubbed the mom look since Aiden was born. “Do you realize how hard it is to get Duncan something he likes that’s not… you know.”

“Dangerous? I know you and Robby want to protect him and all that but honestly he’s six years old.” Casually I leaned up against the counter, cradling my own bowl of noodles with one hand. Across the way I watched Moe haggling furiously with some drifter. Lunch and a show at the Power Noodles. “he already knows how to handle a firearm safely, I don’t see a problem with it.”

“it just doesn’t feel right to give a six year old a gun Vel.” 

Sighing I nodded. It had become easier and easier to forget Violet didn’t come from our time. The scars, the rough hands, the sharp look in her eye, the patched dirty clothes. It all made her look the part of a wastelander but she wasn’t. Her long red hair should have been reminder enough. It occurred to me, like it always did, that she probably attracted attention with that. And how we made an odd pair sitting at the Power Noodles together. If you had told me this was going to be a regular thing two years ago I’d have punched you in the teeth. 

With a shake of my head I left that train of thought and returned to the conversation. “well what’d you get him for Christmas?” 

She grimaced at the counter. “we tracked down some posters of astoundingly awesome tales. I think he might have been a little disappointed.” 

“what about caps? You could always just give him caps, then he could buy whatever he wants.”

Another exasperated look. Those were getting more and more common the older her kids got. Particularly the rascal figuring in our conversation. “you know exactly what he’d buy with his own money. I’m trying to stop that.”

“yeah, yeah.” Smirking I shrugged. “look, I’m sure he’ll be happy no matter what you get him. Hell, when I was his age I’d have been happy to get anything for my birthday.”

A curious set of eyes fell on me. That sort of look put me on edge and my eyes narrowed. “you know, I’ve known you for over a year now and you still haven’t told me when your birthday is. What gives? You know mine and RJ’s.”

Oh great, this conversation. As awkward as it ever was. Probably more so with this prewar housewife. Knew her well enough by now to know she wouldn’t drop it. so with a deep breath I shook my head. “if you figure it out let me know. Pretty much everyone who knew when I was born is dead. Hancock used to celebrate my birthday on the day I rolled into Goodneighbor but that date’s always been… bitter sweet?”

“oh….” She dropped her gaze back to her noodles. To my relief she didn’t pry any deeper. I’m sure Macready had told her what he knew about my past, which wasn’t much. And then there were the rumors too. Beside all that, those rumors weren’t really about me anyway. That Vel had been killed over two years ago. Wouldn’t really feel right using her birthdate to celebrate my own to begin with.

“anyway.” with a large slurp I finished off the last of my noodles and clanked the bowl on the counter. “what about a comic book? Or a toy robot. I had one as a kid, loved that damn thing.”

Violet’s eyes lit up at the suggestion and an overlarge smile split her face. “there’s an old Hubris Comic’s store down town Zoon told me about the other day. He said it was pretty much still intact.” 

“and if we can’t find anything there, there are a few stores that might still have something for us.”

“we? Us?”

I gave her an annoyed sidelong look. “yes, us. Don’t think I’m letting you go out into the ruins alone. Nick and Robby would kill me.”

“you sure?” she glanced around, as if half expecting one of the boys to be listening to our conversation. “don’t you and Nick have a case?”

“we do, but it should get wrapped up today.” Dropping a handful of caps onto the counter I stood with a stretch. Hate barstools. “stick around town till tomorrow, you and I can head out that direction first thing in the morning.” 

“are you sure? I really don’t want to impose on you. It’s not that far from the Diamond I’ll be fine.” 

“oh shut up.” Punching her in the arm I took a step back. “go stay with Piper, I’m sure she and Nat will be glad to have you. I’ll come find you tomorrow morning.”

Before she could keep protesting, or try to change my mind I strode quickly out of the market into the back alleys of the city. The familiar red neon signs of the agency greeted me the moment I stepped into the streets. I heard plenty from the people of Diamond City how the signs were an eyesore, but like Nick said, they brought in the clients. I didn’t even knock as I entered the offices. 

Nick stood over his desk with a camera, grumbling inaudible curses under his breath. “damn it.”

“problem?” 

He glanced up and smiled crookedly. I’d never get over that smile. From behind his desk appeared Gracie. The big old mutant hound rumbled for attention, nudging at my hand. Nick glanced at her then back at me. “I found the letters.”

“damn really?” I leaned over his desk, smirking down at one of the letters. “so he really was having an affair. Hilarious. You owe me ten caps.”

“I don’t remember accepting that bet.” He put the camera back to his eye, training it on the pile. 

“what are you doing?”

“I want to document these or this case might come bite us in the ass.” The camera clicked quietly but nothing happened. “damn it. Or trying to, this old thing keeps acting up.”

“you’ve had it since you came to Diamond city. Is it any wonder that it has as much attitude as you?” I pointed out casually, skirting around his desk to lounge at my own. Ellie and I shared it still, though she’d taken something of a vacation the last week or so. Probably spending it with her girlfriend in Goodneighbor. Gracie sat her butt down at my side, putting her slobbering mouth on my knee. 

“every machine and synth in this house has attitude.” He commented dryly, sitting down with the offending device. “I’ve tried all the usual fixes, it’s gotta be something new this time. I’m not much good at this.”

“but you are a machine.” My brows shot up. “shouldn’t you be good at this?”

“shouldn’t you be good at open heart surgery?” 

“touché.” 

With his metal thumb he popped open the back of the camera and went to work on its insides. Hope he wouldn’t ask me for a hand. I could fix any gun you offered me, a camera? Hell no. “what did you and Violet talk about?”

With a dramatic shrug I rested my cheek on my fist. “oh, you know, bit of this, bit of that. Sanctuary is growing by leaps and bounds. Shaun is too. Aiden is well on her way to being as much of a handful as her parents.”

“we all knew that was coming.” He chuckled, gesturing with a screwdriver at the door. “what about Danny? He getting himself into trouble?”

“Violet’s trying desperately to circumvent that.” 

“good luck, we all know who his father is.”

“right? With his birthday coming up he’s been asking for a gun again. Violet really doesn’t want to give him one.” 

“can’t say I blame her.” A stray spring bounced its way out of the camera into the pile of file boxes we had at the back. Nick swore under his breath. I wasn’t sure he used to swear that bad until after I moved in with him. “if I had a kid his age I wouldn’t want him touching a fire arm until he was at least ten.”

Frowning I got up and went digging in the boxes. Probably wouldn’t find the thing till we did some cleaning but I didn’t feel like reorganizing this. “do you want kids?”

“one day, maybe. But… I’m a machine after all.” A bitter half chuckle issued out of him.

Straightening I glanced at him over my shoulder. He had his back to me but his shoulders were square. We’d talked about kids before but in no serious capacity, I guess now wasn’t the time for that conversation. 

“what are we going to get him?” quickly he took control of the conversation and steered us away from sensitive topics. Thanks Nick. 

“well, until I talked to Violet I was thinking a BB gun.” 

“I’d give a six year old a BB gun.” Nick admitted, twisting in his chair to look at me. “not sure the kid or Macready would like that much though.” 

“yeah.” A box toppled over from the top of a stack, sending the files across the floor. Pictures and notes from old cases left their hiding places. And there was the spring. Cheeky bastard. “sorry, I’ll take care of it.”

But as I knelt, so did he. Together we gathered up old cases, some of them decades old. Gracie settled down to take another nap. Nothing interesting enough going on to keep her attention. Couldn’t help but notice how many pictures there were. Nick really did like taking pictures, too bad most of them were of crime scenes, and for that matter not very good. “we could get him a case of Nuka-Cola but that shit will kill ya.” He offered. 

“goes for a lot of things in the commonwealth.” We stacked the filled files back in the box. Not sure we had kept things organized at all. I carried the box back to the filing cabinet. “ya know, all this talk about presents and birthdays has got me wondering. When’s yours?”

Carrying the spring gingerly back to his desk Nick paused. Judging by what little of his face I could see the question took him aback. He frowned at the ground, contemplating it. “I don’t really celebrate my birthday.”

“somehow I doubt Ellie let you get away with that.” With a heavy grunt I sat back in my chair, crossing my legs. 

He sat stiffly with his back to me, hiding his face. “she tried. She pried Nick Valentine’s birthday out of me once and tried to celebrate mine on the same day. That just never sat right with me.”

I understood that feeling all too well. “what about the day you woke up in the wasteland?”

“oh yeah.” He snorted, turning to give me a harsh look. “lets celebrate the day DiMA punched me out and left me for dead. Sounds good to me.”

Fair point. Sheepishly I dropped my gaze to the desk, playing with a loose button on my coat. “sorry, yeah I guess you don’t have a lot of good options.” 

Heaving a shrug he returned to the camera. “don’t worry about it Gray, I don’t need a birthday, or presents, or anything like that. You’re the only present I’ll ever need.”

A smile cracked my face and I threw my arms around his shoulders from behind. His fingers fumbled with the camera and the same damn spring bounced off down the hall toward our bedroom. Nick cursed but I kissed him on the temple. “what did a wretch like me ever do to deserve you?”

“you have a thing for antiques?”

“I guess I do.”

\---

“that is the last time I let you take the lead.” I grumbled, brushing dirt and concrete dust off my coat.

Beside me Violet didn’t look much better. Her red hair looked almost gray thanks to the layer of dust that had settled on it. I snorted at the sight, about time she stopped looking perfect. Indignantly she patted down her clothes. “I wasn’t the one that decided to throw that baseball! Where did you even get that?!”

“Moe gave it to us as payment for a case a month back.” I shrugged, grinning broadly at the memory. “I might start buying more of those from him.”

“it almost took down the whole building!”

“ah we’re fine.” Waving aside her concern I pointed just up the street. “and besides, we’re here aren’t we? Come on before those raiders dig themselves out of the rubble.” 

She grumbled something about recklessness to which I just chuckled. Together we walked across the dirty street to a small shop hidden away below. A graffiti styled sign hung over a blue door reading Hubris Comics n’ toys. Funny that I’d never gone in here before. Then again most people didn’t ask you to go scavenging for toys unless, well unless you were Violet. 

The moment we stepped inside we got a lung full of decayed flesh and feral blood. Behind me Violet gagged once and I had to fight the same urge. The musty comic shop had been sealed for a while it looked like. Shelves still scattered the store front with burned comics and papers on them. Directly across from the door stood a cardboard cut out of the Silver Shroud. Smirking I strode to stand in front of it, hands on my hips. “I should sneak this into the offices, Nick would hate it.”

“shouldn’t we get down?” Violet hissed.

I looked over my shoulder to find her apprehensively scanning the room. I understood her fear. Ghouls were about the worst things to find yourself fighting in a dimly lit room. thankfully though there weren’t any left for us to fight. Pointedly I strode around a comic shelf and lifted the severed arm of a feral up for her to see. “Zoon came through here remember? We’re fine. There might be a scavenger or two but other than that we’re in the clear.”

Violet relaxed visibly. Again just a little reminder that she didn’t quite belong in the wasteland. No wastelander would ever relax in a place like this. with a tiny frown she strode deeper into the shop, scanning the shelves critically. “I’m not sure we’re going to find a comic here….”

“don’t worry, there are a few floors to this place. We might get lucky.” Prewar people always seemed to leave around the strangest things. Particularly in their safes. With any luck, the shop owner had kept his favorite issues hidden away in a lock box somewhere just waiting for us. 

But, as we made our way inch by inch through the damn place, my pessimism sunk in. It had four floors all of which were practically falling in on one another. There were times Violet and I had to practically climb on the walls to get around a gap. At some point we discovered a freshly exploded hole in the floorboards, at the foot of the last flight of stairs. We exchanged looks. 

“Zoon?” I asked.

“probably… he likes his grenades.” 

Had no doubts about that. Mad man was as likely to take you out as the Supermutants he was aiming at sometimes. I leapt over first then offered my hand out to Violet.

Defiantly she leapt over next, stumbling a little as her momentum carried her into the stairs. Without even glancing my way she straightened and marched onward. Well the woman was tough, had to give her that. Suppose you had to be. Like Hancock always said, you either had to be tough or crazy to survive the wasteland. And Violet wasn’t crazy, not like Zoon at any rate. 

Grinning mildly to myself I followed her up the stairs into some kind of studio above. There was a torn city backdrop slung in a corner. Three cameras stood trained on a couple of dummies that still sat there. Papers and props littered the floor, as well as the body of a glowing ghoul. Both of us threw a hand to our noses the moment we saw it. “ah sick.” I grumbled, trying not to cough.

Violet skirted around it gingerly, face scrunched so badly it almost looked like a snarl. “let’s have a look quickly. I don’t care if I have to find another store, this is disgusting.”

No arguments here. She went off to search the front end of the studio and I took the backstage and control room. a lot of wigs for a Silver Shroud production. A set of handcuffs, some boxes with papers, a silver scarf. I almost grabbed that to joke with Nick. Bypassing that I walked into the control room. A terminal sat on a desk in here and out of curiosity I fiddled with the controls. Soon figured out how to turn on the Silver Shroud theme music. 

Violet yelped in surprise somewhere by some lockers. “is that you?!”

“what? Don’t like the Silver Shroud?”

“I was a fan back in the day, you just scared me for a second is all.” 

“sorry.” No I wasn’t. The terminal had a Holotape so I wrote the song to it and popped it into my Pipboy. Satisfied I straightened and looked around the room. there wasn’t much here either. At least, no comics. Sighing in disappointment I made to leave the room when my eyes fell on a box beside the door. 

Gradually I knelt and picked up the camera that lay inside. It’s flash bulb attachment dangled useless by some wires. The lens fell out with tiny tinkling sounds. The back didn’t latch properly. A real piece of junk but it gave me an idea. 

“I found it!” Violet’s triumphant voice came from a bathroom at the front of the room. 

I left the control room, still carrying the camera in my hand, just as she appeared. In her hand she held aloft the comic, dusty old thing looked in good condition. “what is it?”

“Invasion of the Zetas.” She read the title aloud, coming to meet me in the middle of the room. “I don’t think RJ even has this one, Duncan’s going to love it.”

“see? Told you we’d find something.” 

“what about you?” her big green eyes fell on me with that same curiosity as before. 

With a shrug I offered her the broken machine. “just a camera.”

“salvaging for parts?”

“not quite….” I frowned at it in contemplation, thinking back to Nick last night. “hey… would you be willing to help me with something?”

\---

Clutching the backpack protectively in my hands I raced through the rapidly closing gates of the diamond. Thought I wasn’t going to make it home. Nick would have been furious if I hadn’t come back for the night, without warning. No worries there though. The gate closed behind me with a loud bang. I ran up the ramp into the city. The field lights of the stadium lit up the city like broad daylight. It bleached out the stars overhead. According to my Pipboy it was half past ten. 

The market was pretty much dead as I strode through it. Loud voices issued down from the Dugout inn, busy as usual. I could hardly contain my excitement as I careened around the corner back toward the agency. Just as I came to our door it flew open and Nick appeared, throwing on his coat. “gray!”

“Nick!” I smiled for a moment before it slid away. “what’s the rush?”

“there’s a domestic between our clients. She got a gun.”

“probably shouldn’t have told her about the affair.” I laughed, casually shifting the backpack under my arm. 

He chuckled. “probably not. I won’t be long.” Before I could say anything else he slipped passed me and down the street toward the market. 

My heart felt heavy at the sight of him leaving. With a deep frown and bowed head I shuffled into our doorway. Who was our client again? I’d have to have a few choice words with them. I took hold of the doorknob when suddenly hands wrapped around my middle.

Nick’s lips pressed against my jaw and he whispered softly into my ear. “meet me at the park? I’ll be there in ten.”

Warmth flooded my insides and up my face. Grinning I nodded. “alright.” 

He gave me another peck before peeling away again. 

Trying to ignore the bubbling feeling his embrace had kindled I walked down the street and around the back. there was a stage here, some benches and a playground for the kids. still holding the backpack I sat at one of the benches, fidgeting with anticipation. Why hadn’t I gone with him? He hadn’t offered I guess. Hopefully he wasn’t stupid enough to get himself shot tonight of all nights. 

As the minutes ticked by a knot of worry formed in the pit of my stomach. I put the backpack down on the bench beside me and tried to distract myself with the stands. Someone had given a fresh coat of paint to the wall. Still didn’t understand people’s obsession with it. It was just a wall after all, it could easily come down some day. Eventually I got so antsy that I made to rise and go look for him.

A hand came down on my shoulder, forcing me to sit back down. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting.” Nick’s warm voice came from behind and he soon appeared.

Maybe it was the light, or the night, or something else, but right then he looked even more handsome than usual. Was he wearing a new coat? Leaning back I let him kiss me as he sat. “don’t worry about it, everything ok?”

He shrugged. “nobody died, someone got shot but he’ll live.”

“well that’s good, why were you late?”

“Piper was giving me trouble.” 

“why? What’d she want?”

“just an explanation, for this.” from inside his coat he produced a small package. It was wrapped in old issues of Publick Occurrences. It wasn’t until he shoved the package into my hands that I realized my jaw had fallen open. 

“N-Nick what’s this for?!” my eyes were wide I could feel it, and judging by the amused expression on his face mine was comical. 

He smiled crookedly but his eyes softened. “well… I know you don’t know when you were born and you don’t like celebrating it when Hancock does….”

“oh Nick….” My heart flooded with so much emotion it was almost painful. Tears threatened to leak out of my eyes. hoping to hide them from him I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight against my chest.

He hugged me right back, arms so tight it felt like he was trying to squeeze the breath out of me. “I love you gray, are you going to keep me waiting?”

For a moment I let go out of confusion. Holding him by the shoulders I looked up into his eyes. his kind face continued to smile at me with more love than I’d ever be able to give back. 

“open it already, I wanna see your reaction.” 

“oh right….” I’d almost entirely forgotten it. smiling broadly I put it in my lap. Just before I tore open the package though I stopped. “wait hold on!” Forcefully I thrust the backpack into his hands, ignoring the confused frown he gave me. “that’s for you.”

“you shouldn’t have.”

“look who’s talking.” I quipped smiling. “open them together?”

But he frowned down at the backpack like it had foiled some great scheme of his. Slowly he drew his eyes up to meet mine. That wasn’t disappointment, was it? “I … wanted this to be your day gray….”

God do you have to be that sweet? I took him by the cheek, smiling gently at him. “and there’s nobody else in the whole damn world that I’d share it with. How about we make this Our day?” 

That croaked smile returned and my chest inflated at the sight. He gently took my face in his hand and drew his thumb across my cheek. “I’d like that.”

“good.” I was blushing I could feel it, and he could see it. judging by that widening smile. Quickly I looked away, fiddling with the newspaper. What’d he have to do to get Piper to give up her precious newsprint. “open it.”

“only if you do too.” 

Together we opened our respective presents. Out of the newspaper tumbled a small, partly melted toy robot. It was missing part of its head and its arms were croaked but no mistaking it. It was a miniature version of an Assaultron. Not quite the same robot I had as a kid but it filled me with a wave of nostalgia all the same. “where in the hell did you find this even? I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid!” 

“Macready gave me a tip. More importantly.” He held out the camera, as if I hadn’t already seen it. “where did you find a ProSnap in this condition?”

Hugging the robot to my chest I smiled broadly up at him. “I got Shaun to fix it. He said it should be better than new.” 

With a childlike excitement he turned the new camera over in his hands. I hadn’t had the chance to paint it, or maybe I was just too excited to. It looked rusted on the outside but I trusted that kid to make it work like it was supposed to. His wide eyes made the smile on my face get even bigger. 

Without thinking I took hold of his lapel and pulled him in for another heartfelt kiss. He chuckled against my lips then returned the kiss in equal kind. He leaned in, slipping one of his hands behind my back. startled I held onto him with the hand that still held the robot to steady myself. It felt so good to be this inseparably close to him. Nothing else mattered, he was the only birthday present I’d ever need in my life. 

Something clicked and whirred near my ear. I broke the kiss to look only to find Nick holding the camera at arm’s length pointing at us. A photo slid out of the little machine, waiting for one of us to take it. “happy birthday gray.” Nick whispered hoarsely into my ear. 

Smiling broadly I pressed our foreheads together, closing my eyes to savor this moment. “happy birthday Nick.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a cute little short i wrote literal ages ago. This is a taste of how sappy our favorite detectives get when there's no crisis on hand. considering what i put them through they deserve their moments.
> 
> there's a little illustration to go with this short on my deviant art page here:
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/scorpiodarkmoon
> 
> go have a look at it! 
> 
> see you next week, and in the mean time, Write on!


	4. September 14th 2290: Pickman

“we’re close.” Magnolia’s finger made a smooth slow ring around the edge of her glass. An almost fairway expression took her eyes as she gazed into it. “Irma’s rounding on the same connections lately. Either we’ve hit a loop, or we’ve almost mapped his whole network.”

“can we be sure?” I took a long drawn drag of my cigarette. Not for the first time the act wasn’t doing anything for my nerves. Times like these I wished I had a human body. Then maybe I could actually calm myself down.

Magnolia shook her head. “we can’t be sure, but we can’t keep at this for much longer. Irma will get cold feet eventually or _he_ will figure out what we’re doing.” 

“I’m aware of that….” With a flick of my thumb I knocked off the ash of my cigarette into the tray. I glared at it. there were a few stubs there already. Some from me. we’d been talking a while. “but I will not make a move until I know everything there is to know. It won’t be enough to just cut off the head of the snake Mags, we’ve got to chop this thing up into as many pieces as we can.” 

Her hand fell on mine, forcing me to look up at her. “I know, I get it. but we’re running out of time. I’m surprised this has gone on as long as it has.” 

“just over a year, yeah me too.” her familiar blue eyes sank into mine. Not for the first time I felt something stir in the back of my mind. That damn itch that refused to go away whenever I was around her. She still hadn’t told me when we met, somehow that didn’t bother me. maybe it was second priority over what this looked like.

We were in the VIP room once again, where we took all of our meetings. Magnolia had long ago arranged for a bouncer to stand at the door, deterring anyone stupid enough to interrupt us. These meetings had become a once a month occurrence. The last day of every month I’d have to sneak out of diamond city to meet her. If Gray had noticed it she hadn’t said anything. I wondered what she’d do if she knew I was sneaking out to meet another woman. The guilt over that chewed up my insides.

Mags must have recognized the look on my face because she retracted her hand. “sorry…. I was just trying to be comforting….”

“you’re fine.” The words just didn’t sound right in my throat.

She shook her head. “does she suspect anything?”

“not that I can tell.”

“and what are you going to do if she does? Are you going to come clean to her?” 

“I’m not sure that’s your concern.” A little venom leaked into my voice than I intended and I looked away. “maybe it would be for the best if she thought I was cheating on her.”

“what the fuck does that mean?!” Mags slammed her hands on the table making me jump out of my skin. Her fierce blue eyes could have been on fire the way she looked at me. for a moment I thought I was about to die. “you’re in love with her, damn near more in love than I’ve ever seen someone, and you’re sitting there talking about putting her through that?!”

“to protect her.” Where the hell was the conviction I’d thought that thought with? Faced with this woman all courage fled me. “she’s in danger every minute she stays with me. until I’ve dealt with Hintzen it’s-”

“selfish to put her in that kind of danger, I’ve seen this song and dance before Nick.” She cut me off with as little hesitation as if I’d been suggesting the world was flat. Angrily she crossed her arms, glaring me right in the eye. “it’d be even more selfish to make her think you don’t love her any more. That girl is broken enough as it is without you. she needs you just as much as you need her.” 

The weight of her words made me deflate. My shoulders slouched and I leaned over. Right about then I’d be nursing a drink if I’d bothered with the prop. Damn it why couldn’t they have put me in a gen three body? “I just wish she’d listen to me and leave the commonwealth until I sorted this out. Go live in Far Harbor or something.”

“she’s never going to leave you.” the creak of her chair signaled she sat back. when next I looked up she was casually sipping at her drink. “so get over it. she doesn’t need a self deprecating boy, she needs a man who can handle himself.” 

“you sure know how to give a pep talk don’t you?” I took one last drag of my cig before stamping it out. Rising I adjusted my trench coat. “anything else to report on Irma?”

“nothing yet, I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

“thanks, I should be getting back to Gray before she follows me here.” I’d already been gone for way too long. If Gray showed up here to find me I didn’t dare think what Hancock would do. Hopefully he’d have enough control just to ignore her. 

Mags followed me to the stairs. The Third Rail had the usual crowd, lowlifes that barley had a place in Goodneighbor let alone anywhere else. Nobody even looked at us as we left. No doubt rumors were already spreading throughout Goodneighbor what Magnolia and I were up to. Hopefully they weren’t even close to the reality. Mags waved at me as I marched up the stairs and out of the bar. 

It was a nice day out. Cool for late August. Not that it mattered much to me. the temperature never bothered me even if I could feel it. shouting drew my attention off the bright blue sky. 

“are you telling me you’re not going to do anything?!”

“listen boy, we can’t send people looking for a psycho who doesn’t bother Goodneighbor.”

“that piece of shit killed my- friend!” that was Scot’s voice. 

Curiosity drove me around the corner outside the Rexford. Sure enough Scot stood on the steps to the Statehouse. Just inside the door was Hancock. His bright red coat unmistakable. He leaned on a thick cane. It was partially for show at this point, the leg could handle his weight. Anything short of heavy lifting he was fine. Scot glowered up at his fellow ghoul, fists tight. His black vest was crooked and the buttons on his shirt weren’t all done right. if he were human I’d expect he’d have bags under his eyes too.

Hancock leaned down over him, black eyes even darker under that shadow. “I get what you’re feeling right now. so believe me when I tell ya that killing this guy ain’t gonna make a damn bit of difference.” 

“don’t talk to me like I’m a kid, you have no idea how old I am.” Scot answered venomously.

“what’s going on?” should have left well enough alone, I knew that, but Scot was a friend. So here I was, striding up to the pair like they’d welcome the interruption. 

Scot swung to face me, a little hope leaking into his near dead features. Hancock spoke first though. “what are you doin here Valentine?” 

There was an accusation in his voice. No doubt he’d gotten word about me and Mags. The speculations and rumors, not the truth. Maybe he thought I was cheating on Gray. He should know me better than that. “I’m in town on business. What’s this about?”

Scot threw an accusatory finger at Hancock. “this zombie doesn’t care that there’s a serial killer out there!” 

Hancock made a noise like a feral. “only two people have called me a zombie and lived.”

“why haven’t you told me about this?” now I glared at Hancock too. of all things to be keeping from me. this? this was exactly the sort of thing the old Nick used to handle.

But the ghoul shrugged like it was just a bit of gossip. “Pickman stays away from Goodneighbor, he usually sticks to raiders. Doin me a favor.” 

“he doesn’t!” Scot shouted, jabbing a finger at Hancock’s chest. “he takes people wherever he can get them! He took Noah! Are you just going to let him get away with it?!”

“if he starts takin people from Goodneighbor we’ll handle it. but I ain’t gonna commit men to deal with a threat that don’t exist.”

“he does exist!”

I put my hand firmly on Scot’s shoulder to draw him down. the rage in him wasn’t that for an ordinary friend. I knew it all too well. “we’ll take care of it.” 

Scot gaped at me, like he didn’t believe me. what was there not to believe? He’d been one of our contacts, and a good friend for over a year now. of course I’d help him. to say nothing of justice.

Hancock waved his hand, reminding me where Gray had gotten her callous attitude. “don’t get yourselves dead. I’ve got things to do.”

“like get high and fuck Fahrenheit?” Scot muttered under his breath.

The end of the cane slammed into his jaw, sending him sprawling. My hand went for my gun on instinct which froze when I saw the look on Hancock’s face. he was livid. So angry he was about ready to kill someone. “don’t forget who you’re talkin to punk. I’m the damn mayor of Goodneighbor, think I got that title by kissing ass and taking shit from little pricks like you?”

Clutching at his jaw Scot turned to face the raging mayor. I just stood by frozen, too shocked to really do anything. After a couple seconds of glaring, mostly from Hancock, he disappeared back into the statehouse. The door slammed shut behind him. 

“well… I haven’t seen him like that in … a long time.” Muttering under my breath I offered Scot my hand. “ya alright kid?”

“don’t call me kid.” he growled back, rubbing his jaw. 

“now that we’re alone, want to explain to me who Pickman is?”

Scot cast a glance around the street with the air of a man scared to be overheard. I suppose that was a valid fear. After all Goodneighbor took in all types. Eventually he seemed satisfied that there wasn’t much danger and turned back to me. “there’s this mad man who calls himself Pickman. I think he’s new to town. He takes people, leaves these fucking calling cards around.” From a pocket he produced a note.

One glance at it and I felt my insides go cold. Calling card was right. All serial killers had their thing, that thing they did at crime scenes to mock the police. There had been a few serial killers back in Nick’s time and they all had their own signature. The note was just a crumpled, aged piece of paper. Written on it were the words Pickman was here, find me if you dare. Under it a large red heart. Didn’t need to do an analysis to know it was blood. “where’d you find this one?”

Scot’s face turned to the ground, his fists so tight at his sides they were shaking. It was probably a miracle that he hadn’t gone running after Pickman on his own. I expected any seventeen year old to do it. but maybe I was wrong about his age. “I have this… friend, Noah, out near Bunker hill. We’ve been friends a long time. But when I went to visit him yesterday his place was trashed and I found that note.”

My heart sank. There was no hope of finding Noah alive. It had already been a day. Pickman could have done anything to him by now. and serial killers weren’t the kind to leave a victim lying around. “Scot… I-”

“shut up, I know.” The steel in his voice surprised me enough to look back to him. “he’s probably dead, I get it, but I can’t just stand by and let that fucking psycho get away with it. he means everything to me. So are you going to help me or not?” 

Jaw set I glanced back down at the paper. What would I do if Gray had been killed? I certainly wouldn’t be handling it as well as Scot was. If I walked away he’d just get himself killed trying to find this scumbag. With a breath I handed the note back to him. “we’re gonna need Gracie, unless you know where Pickman took Noah.” 

A clear wave of relief surged through him. his shoulders relaxed while his hands went limp. The tightness in his eyes didn’t go away. “if I did I wouldn’t be here.”

“then lets get moving, we don’t have time to waste.” 

It was nice when revenge was a simple matter. Pickman killed his friend, so Scot had to kill him right back. it rarely ever appeared that simple in the real world. Normally I’d try to convince Scot to leave it alone, that killing Pickman wouldn’t do any good. If Pickman had been some bandit, or even another civilian, then I would defiantly be talking him down. But Pickman being a killer to begin with, someone at some point had to put an end to him. Scot had more than enough reason to.

When we approached the gates to Diamond city Scot hesitated. “stick close to me and no one will bother you.” I told him.

He shook his head. “I couldn’t care less what those fuckers on security do to me.” to drive home his point, he marched right passed me toward the ramp.

The guards eyed us as we went but they knew better than to bother me. When we first brought Gracie back to Diamond city there had been a fight over letting her stay. The mayor had tried to kick her, along with me and Gray out. When the citizens, particularly Piper, Arturo and Moe, had protested it he’d been forced to back down. Gracie had rapidly won over the whole town, even Myrna which was strange. Since then security had been smart enough to leave Gray and I alone for the most part, including our clients whoever, or whatever they may be. The prejudice that had driven the ghouls out in the first place didn’t seem as strong as it used to be. 

We passed by Nat pushing the newspaper, Power noodles with Takahashi at work. Moe selling a swatter to some drifter. There wasn’t anyone waiting outside the agency when we arrived, thank god. Inside Gray was sitting at her desk, scribbling away at a piece of paper while Gracie chewed happily on a bone beside her. 

“Goodneighbor again?” she asked without looking up.

“we’ve got a case.” I told her.

Carefully she set down her pen. A mild expression filled her face, one that usually said she was masking something. she twisted in her chair, arm over the back. “Scot, you our client?”

Silently he nodded.

“his boyfriend Noah went missing.” I tried to approach Gracie but she growled menacingly in response. Never go near a mutant hound when she had a bone.

“Noah, the trader out of Bunker Hill?” Gray sounded surprised. “he’s your boyfriend? He’s what? Forty something.”

“it’s complicated.” He grumbled, crossing his arms.

I looked back at him. complicated was a word for the look he had. His fingers touched the ring finger on his left hand. ah hell. “why didn’t you say anything?”

“it wasn’t important was it?” Scot spat defensively. 

“I need to know I can trust you when we track Pickman down.” 

“I’m not switching sides!”

“that’s not what I meant.” 

“you worried I’ll go off the rails?! Is that it?!” he threw his hands out, glaring me right in the eye. his eyes were so human. I’d always assumed those eyes meant he’d been recently turned. I was beginning to realize I was wrong. “sure, maybe I will! But Pickman is going to die for what he’s done!”

Gray had remained silent throughout the exchange but she now rose, hands up. “Gracie will sit on both of you if you don’t calm down. Scot, what’s going on?” 

Reluctantly Scot explained while I went looking for more bullets. No telling what kind of hole we’d find ourselves in. “so we need Gracie.”

Nodding Gray bent and took Gracie’s bone from her. The big hound barked angrily, still didn’t make a move against her favorite parent. “Hancock’s such a dick. Why the fuck wouldn’t he help? Damn him. We’ll make sure Pickman pays though.” 

“thank you O'Malley.”

“it’s Vel to my friends Scot, you know that.”

With my pockets full of bullets and my gun ready I looked to them. “alright, Gracie shouldn’t have too much trouble finding the trail if we head toward Bunker Hill. Before we go, Scot, are you sure you want to come with us on this? We can handle it on our own.” 

His fists tightened again, that steely look that really didn’t belong on a seventeen year old turned on me. “the point is I have to be the one to do it. I’m not asking you to do it for me.”

“fair enough.”

“lets get moving then, Gracie, have a smell.” Gray let our dog sniff at Scot’s note. She took a moment, confused then barked. “alright lets go.”

Once we got to Bunker Hill Gracie picked up on the trail. She barked once then lead us down into the ruins near the river. Gray kept her eyes on our dog, I kept my eyes on Scot. The ghoul got angrier with every step. There wasn’t a single trace of nervousness in him. like he’d killed before. if my theory was right, then of course he’d had to kill before. 

“Scot, can I ask you something?”

“what?” he paused just long enough to let me catch up with him. Gray and Gracie pulled head of us. 

“if Noah is so important to you, why aren’t you living together?”

Grimacing he looked back up. “we had a fight…. I was trying to get him to…. Well I’m a ghoul! Have been for a while! Any minute now I’ll go feral. I was trying to protect him. we argued and I walked out….”

“how long?”

“it’s been a couple weeks. I usually work for the neighborhood watch when I’m not escorting Noah’s caravans so no one batted an eye when I started staying at the Rexford.” 

“ya love him don’t you?”

“of course I love him!” he wanted to say more, and going by that face a lot more. 

But a shout from gray up ahead cut him off. “Gracie! Come here now!” 

The dog howled and charged around the corner. A split second later the gunfire started. We dashed forward, guns at the ready. Gray got down on a knee just behind the corner, scowling after our Supermutant hound. As usual the mutt had no sense of self preservation. She charged the first raider she saw. The sight of a full grown hound running at him was enough to buy her time to barrel into him. her big mouth clamped around his leg, forcing him to the ground. 

Gray shot at one that aimed at our dog, forcing him to retreat. There were four raiders, including the one Gracie was chewing on. Scot dropped low behind a car, loading a pipe pistol. What happened to his tommy gun? Gracie tore off the leg of her raider, happily trotting back to Gray with it. she grabbed her by the collar, dragging her out of the line of fire. 

“quit doing that!” 

“are you with Pickman?!” a raider shouted from behind his car.

“fuck you!” 

“Scot! Wait!” I tried to grab him the moment I saw the grenade in his hand but it was too late. He popped the pin and lobbed it at the raiders. To my horror it went under the truck that one of them was hiding behind. Just our luck it looked to be in relatively good condition. Meaning the damn reactor inside hadn’t gone critical yet. Grabbing gray by the back of the collar I hauled us both back. I tossed her down then threw myself on top of her to protect her from the worst. 

A split second later the grenade went off followed closely by the truck going critical. Under the explosions I could just make out Gracie’s alarmed angry barking and the screams of the raiders. Gray threw her hands to the back of her neck, protecting her face in the dirt. When the last of the debris settled I surged to my feet. well, if nothing else that explosion had finished off the last of the raiders. 

“Scot! Where the hell are you?!” 

“that kid’s gonna get us killed.” Gray groaned, pushing herself up with the wall. “where’s Gracie?”

“over there somewhere, can’t you hear her?”

“what?”

That answers that question. with her hand in mine I forced her to follow me around the corner. The road was a mess of concrete, blacktop and gore. There wasn’t anything left of any of them. What a waste. If Scot had listened to me they might have helped us. Gracie was clawing at a door down a back alley, whining miserably. “Gracie! Where’s Scot?!” 

She turned at my voice, still whining, doing that thing dogs did when they wanted through a door. “is this Pickman’s lair?” Gray asked kneeling beside her.

“Scot must have gone ahead of us. Stay close, no telling what kind of psycho this is.” 

Once Gracie was calm we passed through the door. and a wave of nauseating smells washed over us. Gray actually gagged in the doorway. I turned off my sense of smell but not before I identified it. Rotted meat. The dimly lit hall lead us to one of those cramped apartment buildings that littered Boston. The staircase looked ready to collapse right off the wall. We took a few steps in and discovered the source of the smell. 

Someone had made a god damn gallery of horror. Paintings on the walls depicted everything from tortured faces, to floating body parts and eyes. In red, black and yellow. Worse yet was the demented sculpture sitting in the middle of the room. made of broken furniture, pikes, and the body parts of a dozen people. Gray stood beside me, a hand over her mouth and nose. “this is sick.”

“what sick monster could possibly consider this art?” I wondered aloud. Not even Nick had any memories like this. 

Gracie whimpered at Gray’s knee so she patted her head. “where’s Scot gone?” 

“don’t know, Gracie won’t be any help with all this shit in the air. Spread out.” Separating was the last thing I wanted to do. Of course Scot hadn’t given me much choice on that matter. Gray, with Gracie at her side, retreated back to the front toward the stairs. I took the first floor. 

A door at the back of the gallery led into a kitchen. The freak show just kept going. There were blood stains littering the floor. A dead body lay spread-eagled on a table in the middle. Slashes along its arms and legs still bled freely into buckets beneath it. more gore under the table. How could anyone ignore this?! had I known, I’d have made Pickman a priority ages ago. 

Voices turned my attention to a door to the right. with my gun up I crept toward it. “Gray! Get down here!” 

“coming!” 

The door had stairs leading down into the dark dusty depths of the basement. From here I could hear Scot’s words clear. “where the hell is Noah you sick freak!” 

“I don’t know whoever you’re talking about.” The voice was smooth, educated, calm. Not the sort of voice I expected to hear judging by those fucked up paintings. 

Before Gray found me I made my way down the stairs. No point trying to be quiet as the old wood creaked with every step. At the bottom I found Scot, standing out in the middle of a bricked dirty basement. He had a man in a beige suit at gun point. Going by the bloodstains on his hands and the half finished painting behind him, there was no mistaking it, this was Pickman. 

“where the fuck is Noah?!” Scot repeated, his gun wavering with his anger.

Pickman had his hands splayed to either side, frowning. “I don’t know who you are talking about. Please leave, I’m in the middle of some very important work.”

“stop playing with me! you took him! you left your god damn card!” Scot fiercely tossed the note at the man who just shrugged.

“I leave a lot of notes, you’ll have to be more specific.” Pickman’s eyes darted toward me as I entered gun trained on him. a disappointed look crossed his face. “you’re not what I need. You synths don’t have paint in your veins.” 

“answer his question.” I growled. 

“you took him from Bunker Hill! He’s got brown hair and light green eyes! where the hell is he?!” 

“ah!” a light appeared in Pickman’s eyes which made me sick. Delighted with himself he spun around then held up a set of eyeballs dangling from nerves to show us. “are these perchance the eyes you mean?”

Scot’s mouth fell open. If he were capable I’m sure he’d have gone pale. The gun dipped a couple inches while he stared at the bloody orbs swinging like pendulums. “what… what the fuck….”

Pickman smiled broadly. “they’re such unique eyes, I had to include them in my work. I’m an artist you see. I enjoy making things that no one else has ever seen, using materials that no one else-”

Scot put a bullet between his eyes. Pickman crumpled, his last diabolical speech cut short. My gun dropped to my side. Those eyes rolled around in the dirt a little before one of them came to rest staring directly at me. Light green. Then out of nowhere Scot roared. He slammed his fists into the ground, collapsing over his knees. “damn him! Damn him! Damn him!” with every _damn him_ he threw a punch into the ground.

I strode forward, catching his fist before he could hurt himself anymore. “stop! That’s not gonna help anybody!” there was already blood on his knuckles.

“shut up!” he swiped his hand free, glaring up at me like I’d been the one to take Noah’s eyes. “you don’t know! You have no fucking idea what this is like!”

“I’ve got a pretty good idea.” At least the old Nick gave me a good idea. 

Tears were starting to come hard and fast now. the ghoul turned his back on me, arms shaking at his sides. “I hoped we’d get here in time…. God I can’t believe I let this happen. I shouldn’t have pushed him away!” 

“I know your feelin guilty right now but you gotta look at what you did. You stopped a mad man from hurting anyone else. And got revenge for Noah.”

“it isn’t enough!”

“it never is.”

With a long breath his shoulders fell. Like all the fight had fled him in one wave. With his head bent low he took a half step to turn to me. “I met him before I got turned into this… thing. Way back in sixty-eight….” 

Holly hell he really was way older than I thought. 

Scot didn’t notice my shock. “I tried to get him to leave me then but he just wouldn’t. even when the ghouls got kicked out of Diamond City and my own family turned on me, he wouldn’t leave me and I … let him down….” 

“you were trying to protect him, you couldn’t have known this would happen.” No one could have seen this coming, not even me.

“that doesn’t give me a fucking excuse!” angry Scot turned on me, his gun practically rattling under his grip. “I tried to protect him and failed! If I’d been there for him this wouldn’t have happened!” 

“you can’t blame-”

“I’ll blame exactly who deserves it!” 

It made no sense. He’d just been trying to do the right thing. By distancing himself he was just trying to protect Noah. Pickman, all of this, he couldn’t have known that would happen. Or maybe I was just trying to make up excuses for myself. 

“Nick! Scot! Get your asses upstairs!” 

We snapped up. Scot went first, shoving me aside to get to the stairs. One last time I glanced at Pickman just to make sure that bastard would stay down. one less psycho in the world full of them. 

I followed Scot to the second floor where Gray waited for us. She stood outside a doorway just off the landing, face pale and grim. “he doesn’t have a lot of time….” 

Scot ran into the room. 

When I reached Gray I got a good look at what she’d found. A man lay on a gurney inside the room that was stained with so much blood it might as well be called the red room. his shirt was torn and bloody. Stubble on his face, and thick long hair plastered his forehead under the sweat. Two gaping holes where his eyes should have been stared up at the ceiling. Noah.

“oh god Noah I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Scot gripped Noah’s shaking and cold hand. 

“Scot? Is that you? … I never thought I’d hear … your voice again….” He grated out, slow and painful. Gray was right he didn’t have much time left. 

“sh, sh don’t talk. Save your strength. We’ll get you to a doctor. They can fix this. they can fix this. they can-”

Noah reached up with his other hand to touch Scot’s face. “you’re rambling sweetheart….” 

“I’m sorry….” Scot couldn’t even try to hold back the tears. His world was falling apart and I didn’t blame him. 

I took Gray under the elbow. “we should give them privacy.”

“agreed.” Silently we left them. A moment like this shouldn’t be witnessed by anyone. I thought about how I would feel if I had to watch Gray die like this. the agony of that moment would haunt me the rest of my life. Just the same way the agony of loosing Jenny had haunted the old Nick. We took ourselves down the stairs to the hall. Gracie came with us, her tail and ears low. “we should burn this place to the ground.” Gray muttered venomously.

“we’ll let Scot decide what to do.” 

“you at least got this son of a bitch right?”

“he’s dead.”

“good.” 

Silence fell on us after that. Only the sound of Scot’s sobbing could be heard. No telling how long he’d be up there. I doubted Noah was alive after twenty minutes. Interrupting him now though would just make this harder in the long run. Scot needed to do what he had to do. Gracie got restless so Gray took her outside for some fresh air. It wasn’t long after that, that Scot came down the stairs. He carried Noah’s limp body. An odd sight, seeing a seventeen year old carrying a forty year old like that. 

When he caught sight of me he stopped. “I can’t leave him here….”

“I understand. Do you want me to take him?”

“no, I’ve got him.” the tears hadn’t stopped streaming down his face. I held open the door for him and together we walked out into the cool evening. Had it really been that long? 

Gray stood up when she heard us coming. Her face twisted up with sympathy at the sight of Scot carrying Noah away. “what can we do Scot?”

“you’ve already done enough.” He mumbled at Noah’s dead body. “thank you, all of you, for helping me.” 

“let us at least help you get back to Goodneighbor.” I tried to offer but he shook his head.

“I’m not taking him back to Goodneighbor. Don’t worry about me. I need to do this alone.” His voice was hallow, grief stricken. It wasn’t dead though. he wasn’t giving up. 

Which was the only reason I nodded. “alright, we’ll see you at Goodneighbor then.” 

Nodding a fraction, he started walking away. Gray and I stood side by side, watching him go. Without thinking I put my arm around her waist. She murmured, “I can’t believe he didn’t tell us about Noah…. The poor guy.” 

“it’s not going to be easy, but he’s strong enough he can pull through. It’s just gonna take time.” 

“did Nick ever get over Jenny?” 

It surprised me to hear Gray bring up Jenny. She usually avoided it for whatever reason. In response I shrugged. “I dunno, maybe. He could have. but from what I can tell he was still… working on it when he got scanned.”

“I guess there’s no getting over something like this.” she leaned her head into my shoulder, her breath on my cheek. “we need to keep an eye on him.”

“we will, don’t worry. I don’t forget our friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya know what's a sure fire way to ruin your day? throw up right after breakfast, ten minutes before your bus so you have no time to tame your upset stomach after. 
> 
> **sigh** anyway here it is. last case file. sorry it's a bit of a ride. i should have mixed things around in the order here so a happy short fell on the last case file but it just worked out this way instead. sorry guys. 
> 
> hope you're ready for Cause/Effect, it's going to be a hell of a ride. see you next week and until then write on!


End file.
